But now the government in the Republic is coming under increasing pressure to bring in stricter controls on what anti-hunting groups describe as 'this barbaric practice'.

There used to be a saying in Ireland that the sign of a "good" family was "a priest in the family, a pump in the yard, and the hunt once a year".

Not any more. As in Britain, there is growing support for a ban on the organised pursuit of foxes and stags, with hunts regularly picketed or disrupted by anti-hunting campaigners.

One of the groups at the centre of the anti-hunting movement is the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS), which was set up 30 years ago, and which now claims to have over 2,000 subscribers.

ICABS was formed originally to campaign against hare-coursing.

ICABS was initially formed to campaign against hare coursing

It is based in Mullingar, in County Westmeath, close to the geographical centre of Ireland.

Westmeath, with four registered packs, is one of the country's hunting strongholds. But there is also a strong anti-hunt lobby in the area.

This is reflected in the fact that Mullingar Town Commission is one of the few local authorities to have passed a motion calling on the government to outlaw 'this so-called sport'.

The proposal is expected to be debated at this month's annual meeting of the Association of Municipal Authorities in Ireland (AMAI).

Associated with Anglo-Irish

ICABS public relations officer Aideen Yourell says this is a sign of the increasing opposition to the sport.

"This is a cruel acitivity," she says, "And we want to know if we are going to be the last country in Europe which allows this barbaric practice to take place on its land."

Fox-hunting has a long history in Ireland. It was introduced by English landowners, and is still largely associated with the Anglo-Irish, and with well-to-do local farmers.

It continued with little opposition until about ten years ago, when overwhelming public revulsion led to greater restrictions on the long-established practice of hare-coursing, and the campaigners then began to turn their attention increasingly to fox and stag-hunting.

Fox hunting has a long history in Ireland

The release of a video showing the digging-out of a fox in Couny Cork led to the formulation of a code of conduct, agreed with the organisations affiliated to the Irish Hunting Association.

However, the code does not prohibit digging-out, or the use of terriers to flush foxes from earths, or the baiting of fox cubs before the season begins, in order to "blood" the hounds.

The Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports describe the code as "a complete sham", and it is referred to dismissively by ICABS as a "code of misconduct".

The Republic's Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, has ruled out legislation to curb fox-hunting, which he says is not a cruel sport, and which he describes as "a traditional rural activity".

He has also expressed concern at moves to ban fox-hunting in Britain because of the possible effect it would have on the IR£100m market in Irish horses.

Relaxed attitude

But he says that he is opposed to practices such as "earth-stopping", which is designed to prevent an exhausted fox from finding a safe refuge.

A Ministerial spokesman said that no complaint relating to breaches of the code had been received during the past season.

The relatively relaxed attitude of the Irish government towards the sport has led to stories about British enthusiasts creating a "property boom" in Ireland by buying up country estates in case the threat to ban fox-hunting in Britain becomes a reality.

But the British Field Sports Society said that while many hunters regularly visit Ireland, they would be unlikely to make a permanent move.

The emphasis in Northern Ireland is on stag hunting

ICABS, however, criticised Irish estate agents for "unashamedly promoting our country as a blood sport arena for disaffected hunters from the UK".

In Northern Ireland, the emphasis in the past few years has been on stag-hunting rather than fox-hunting.

An item on stag-hunting broadcast on a local television news bulletin showed an exhausted animal trapped in mud on the shores of Strangford Lough, and led to widespread protest.

Northern Ireland and the Republic are thought to be the only countries in the world where it is still legal to release carted (semi-tame) stags, hunt them to exhaustion, then recapture them and keep them for another day.

The practice was banned in Britain 30 years ago.

A proposal to ban the hunting of carted stags has attracted overwhelming public support, and, earlier this year, rare cross-party approval in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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