Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Hidden Ireland: Have you seen this ancient carving of a hurley and sliotar?

For the All-Ireland hurling replay day that’s in it, check out that historic gem (in Donegal!) and others in Tipperary and Tyrone as part of Neil Jackman’s bi-weekly series.

image

Guess where this is? Hint: It’s not in Cork nor Clare.

ENJOY THE CONTINUING mild weather this weekend and visit one of Ireland’s many wonderful heritage sites.

Here are three more suggestions, an incredible medieval abbey in Tipperary, the crowning place of the O’Neills in Tyrone and a small church at the very northern tip of Ireland in Donegal where you can find one of the earliest representations of a hurley and sliotar in the country (Yes, Donegal, not traditionally a hurling stronghold!)

Kilcooley Abbey, Co Tipperary

image

One of Ireland’s true hidden gems, Kilcooley Abbey (pictured, top) is a simply wonderful place to visit. It is located in the beautiful Sliabh-Ardagh region of Tipperary, and is located within the walls of the Kilcooley estate, an impressive Georgian house with over a thousand acres of land (now available for the bargain price of €2.1m!).

Kilcooley Abbey was founded in 1182 after a grant of land to the Cistercians by Donal Mor O’Briain, King of Munster. It was the ‘daughter house’ of Jerpoint Abbey in County Kilkenny, and Kilcooley is without a doubt one of Ireland’s finest Cistercian abbeys and is a wonderful example of Gothic architecture.

I haven’t been able to find much on the next couple of centuries of Kilcooley’s history, but the Abbey is recorded as being attacked and burned in 1418 and later again it was recorded as being almost completely levelled by an armed force of men in 1444.

After this attack, the Ormond Butlers instigated a programme of reconstruction which removed the nave aisles and added a new north transept and tower. Most of the stunning sculpture around the Abbey dates to this period of reconstruction and renovation under the patronage of the powerful Ormond Butlers.

The works were carried out under the eye of the Abbot, Philip O’Mulwanayn, and his graveslab dating to 1463 shows him holding his bishop’s crozier and book of prayer. He appears to have been part of a dynasty, as his son William, and his ancestors after him, were abbots of Kilcooley until the mid-sixteenth century.

The Butlers were rewarded for their patronage by having their tombs placed inside the sacred areas of Kilcooley. The most stunning of which is the incredible tomb of Pierce Fitz Og Butler.

image

The tomb likely dates to 1526, and depicts Pierce Butler in his armour. At his feet a small dog indicates his faithfulness and loyalty, and ten of the twelve apostles are depicted below. Unusually, we know who actually created the tomb, as the name of the sculptor Rory O’Tunney (Roricus O Tuyne) is clearly marked.

It is almost impossible to do justice in this short article to the sheer wealth of incredible sculpture at Kilcooley, for example the ornate Gothic east window is beautifully carved, with the stone formed to look almost like flames or delicate foliage.

image

The ‘abbots chair’ (or sedilla) is also incredible, and is matched on the other side by another, slightly plainer example.

The screen wall separating the southern transept from the sacristy is also elaborately decorated with a number of scenes including Saint Christopher crossing a river with the infant Jesus, the crucifixion with Mary and Saint John on either side, a pelican feeding its young within a chalice, a charming mermaid with a comb and mirror, and the Butler coat-of-arms.

Beyond this area you can enter the cloister. The cloisters was an important feature of Cistercian monasteries, and were always located to the south. They were usually a covered walkway enclosing an open square area. Very little remains of any covered walkway at Kilcooley, and it appears that perhaps the cloisters were converted to a courtyard in its later history. You can see other more domestic quarters at Kilcooley though some of these are kept locked and inaccessible to the public for health and safety reasons.

Outside of the abbey you can see a small circular tower, this was a dovecote where the monks kept pigeons. The pigeons were a handy source of protein and the pigeon dung also made good fertiliser: very little was wasted in a medieval monastery!

In its heyday, the Abbey would have also had other agricultural buildings like mills and a large lay population to work the land.

Kilcooley Abbey ceased to be a place of monks and contemplation when it was surrendered during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540. However the lands were granted directly to the Butlers, and it is recorded that they allowed monks to remain at Kilcooley, until they sold it to Sir Jerome Alexander in 1636.

image

After the Catholic Confederacy rebellion in 1641, Cistercian monks returned to Kilcooley, until they were finally removed from the site by Cromwell’s forces in 1650. Ten years later the Alexander family regained the Abbey and when Elizabeth Alexander married Sir William Barker of Essex in 1676, the Abbey was converted into being a domestic house.

In 1790 the grand Kilcooley House was built and replaced the abbey as the main residence. Today the site is a National Monument, and under the care of the Office of Public Works. The site is gated, but the gate is often left unlocked during the day to allow visitors to enjoy one of the finest heritage sites in the country.

Kilcooley is located around 20km east of Thurles in County Tipperary, off the R690. It’s just east  of Gortnahoe. When you go up the drive of Kilcooley Estate you’ll see signs for the Abbey, but before you get there be sure to park your car at the relatively modern Church of Ireland and take a moment to see the quite remarkable 18/19th century pyramid shaped burial monument of the Barker family. It’s well worth a look! The abbey is just further along the track, less than a five-minute walk from there.

Tullaghoge, Co Tyrone, ancient kingmaker site of the O’Neills

image

Tullaghoge has to be one of the most atmospheric and evocative sites that we  have visited for this series. At first glance the site looks very much like a large ringfort – a common type of settlement site in the early medieval period. It has a large earthen banks topped by a ring of trees, however the ditches are far too wide to be defensive and the commanding views over the  landscape of Tyrone suggest that this was a place of important ceremonies and authority.

The name Tullaghoge comes from Tulach Óg meaning The Hill of Youth. The site has never been archaeologically excavated so the exact age and function of the initial activity at Tullaghoge is unknown. It is likely to date to some time in the early medieval period, between the seventh and ninth centuries.

Historical records tell us that the site was originally associated with Uí Tuirtre of Airgialla, and then became the possession of the O’Hagan family. They lived at Tullaghoge and became the hereditary guardians of the symbolic site. The O’Hagans were clients of the powerful O’Neill dynasty, and during the middle and later medieval period, it was the O’Hagans who had the honour of inaugurating the O’Neill chiefs, proclaiming them as ‘The O’Neill’.

During the crowning ceremony at Tullaghoge, the King elect was seated on a stone inauguration chair known as the Leac na Ri. He swore oaths to rule by Brehon Law (the ancient laws of Ireland) and to give up the throne if he became too old or infirm to rule.

New sandals were placed on his feet by the chief of the O’Hagans and a golden sandal was ceremonially thrown over his head to indicate he would continue in the footsteps of his ancestors, and then the new king was handed the ceremonial rod of office. The primate of Armagh would then anoint and crown the O’Neill as chief and king.

The last O’Neill to have been inaugurated at Tullaghoge was the famous Hugh O’Neill in 1595. Hugh was the powerful Earl of Tyrone, and he led a massive rebellion against the Crown forces in Ireland in an attempt to stop the plantations of Ireland and the erosion of the powers of the Gaelic chiefs. This series of conflicts became known as The Nine Years War.

After some initial successes, like the Battle of the Yellow Ford, by 1601 the Gaelic forces had suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Kinsale. Lord Mountjoy led the Crown Forces here, to the Royal Inauguration site of Tullaghoge, and smashed the Leac na Ri, the sacred inauguration stone of the O’Neills, thereby symbolically breaking the O’Neill sovereignty. At the time it was recorded that Mountjoy ‘spoiled the corn of all the country…and brake down the chair wherin the O’Neals were wont to be created, being of stone planted in the open field’.

image

Fragments of the Leac na Ri were said to have been stored in the orchard of the glebe house of the local protestant church until 1776, when the last of the fragments were taken away.

The O’Neills never returned to Tullaghoge to claim their lordship as Hugh O’Neill fled Ireland in  the Flight of the Earls in 1607. Eventually though the O’Neills would return to power albeit in a more indirect way. Hugh O’Neill’s daughter Sorcha married a Magennis who was the ancestor of Lady Glamis. In 1900 Lady Glamis had a daughter, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, her daughter Elizabeth currently sits on the British throne.

The site was said to have been completely abandoned by 1622 and today it is an incredibly atmospheric place to visit. When you enter the centre of the enclosure and are shut off from the modern world by the trees and earthen banks, you can really get a sense of the history of Tullaghoge, a place of celebrations, ceremonies, inaugurations and gatherings for centuries.

Tullaghoge is just around 4km south of Cookstown in County Tyrone, off the B162 (Cookstown to Stewartstown Road), and you’ll see signposts for the site. There is a small area to park at the base of the hill, and a well made stone path leads nearly the whole way to the site. At the end of the path just pass through the small kissing-gate.

Clonca, Co Donegal

image

At Clonca in the far north of the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal you can find a small 17th century church. The church itself is rather plain, but it stands on the foundations of an earlier church that was part of an early-medieval monastic site founded by Saint Buodan. You can still see traces of this earlier monastery in the large lintel that has been reused in the church, and the remarkable two high crosses.

Only one of the high crosses still stands today, it is around 4m tall and probably dates to around the 11–12th century. However around three-quarters of the cross head appears to have been replaced.

Like most high crosses this example at Clonca displays biblical scenes like a depiction of the two apostles Peter and Paul, above them you can see strange looking beasts (maybe lions?), on the other side of the cross you can see the miracle of the loaves and fishes but much of the cross is taken up with intricate geometric patterns.

image

image

The second cross is a little more difficult to find as it has long since collapsed, to find it walk through the field from the standing cross, walking near the fence back towards the road, keeping the hedge boundary of the field with the church in it on your right hand side. You’ll soon find the large fragments of the high cross lying on the ground. It  looks to have been a large ringed cross, decorated with curving shapes.

Back inside the church, you can see the rather ornately decorated fifteenth or sixteenth century graveslab. It has a large cross in the centre and to the right you can see a sword with a hurley stick and sliotar, one of the earliest depictions of a hurley and sliotar in Ireland!

image

The slab is inscribed with ‘Fergus Mak Allan Do Rini in Clach Sa Magnus Mec Orristin Ia Fo Trl Seo’ (Fergus MacAllan made this stone; Magnus Mac Orristin under this).

Clonca Church is certainly worth a visit, just for an excuse to drive around the beautiful Inishowen Peninsula. It is relatively straight forward to find, from Carndonagh take the R244 east for roughly 5km heading for Gorey. When you’re in Gorey take a left turn at the crossroads, drive through the next set of crossroads and you’ll see a sign pointing in a field just after the crossroads. There is space to pull the car in just before the site, and there is a solid path leading to the church from the road.

I hope you enjoy this article, it is part of a regular fortnightly series for TheJournal.ie, the articles are based on my blog. Take a look to see if we have covered any sites in your area.

If you would like to see daily updates with pictures and information on Irish heritage sites,  archaeology and history please consider following us on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

If you would like to support us please download an audioguide from abartaheritage.ie. There are currently 14 guides available with four free of charge and the rest costing just €1.99. They are full of original music and sound effects and are a fun and immersive way of hearing the story of some of Ireland’s most iconic heritage sites and places.

All images © abartaheritage.ie

Read more in the Hidden Ireland series>
How a shipwreck turned into an abbey>
Here’s what posh Irish toilets looked like 700 years ago>

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
26 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Higgins
    Favourite Sean Higgins
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:30 AM

    I think Oscar Wilde’s quote sums it up nicely ‘The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable’……..

    586
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Slim Browne
    Favourite Slim Browne
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:29 AM

    What kind of person gets a thrill watching a pack of dogs tear another animal to pieces, clearly their not right in the head, these hot toddy drinking sadistic excuse for a human only proves one thing that is that the man is more savage than the beast.

    915
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Missyb211
    Favourite Missyb211
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:53 AM

    @Slim Browne: Yawn!

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Missyb211
    Favourite Missyb211
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:57 AM

    @Missyb211: sorry, that was for Trev!er..

    13
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TheHeathen
    Favourite TheHeathen
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:00 AM

    @Missyb211: Yawn? Defend the hunt if you can, or argue his comment, but don’t yawn. It makes you out to be a simpleton that enjoys cruelty and nothing more.

    150
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Slim Browne
    Favourite Slim Browne
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:24 AM

    @Missyb211: well go back to bed then, uv brought nothing useful to the conversation, so Tally Ho.

    83
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Diogenes
    Favourite Diogenes
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:51 AM

    @Slim Browne: Fine Gael Elite

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Walsh
    Favourite John Walsh
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 2:18 PM

    @Slim Browne: Me

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute White Rabbit
    Favourite White Rabbit
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 4:12 PM

    @Slim Browne: leave hot Toddies out of this!

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Murphy
    Favourite Tony Murphy
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:49 AM

    I live in an area of Meath where these A holes meet regularly. Take over the roads, park there jeeps and horse boxes everywhere. No regard for anyone or anything else. An antiquated tradition that should be banned . Complete conts the lot of them.

    461
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sinead Hanley
    Favourite Sinead Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:47 AM

    @Tony Murphy: Not to mention the amount of horse$hite everywhere. Couldnt agree with you more. I have spoken here about a time i was out for a walk. 2 guys on horses said hello and i continued up a country road. I met 40+ beagles barking like crazy. I had to climb up on a high wall. Do you think the a$$holes could have warned me. I dont know if sadists is the correct name for them. Maybe they are more like cavemen. The “sport” should be banned!

    148
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Campbell
    Favourite John Campbell
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:45 AM

    The most disgusting part of this so called sport is that its participants make statements about regulations and protocols,
    and animal welfare!! They will insist they are helping to cull the fox population at the same time trying to convince you that very few foxes are killed during the hunt!
    Nothing wrong, as they see it , in exposing residents including children and people with domestic pets to
    the savagery of an unfortunate animal being torn to pieces.
    The contamination of farmland from dozens of hounds and galloping horses crossing it doesn’t seem to bother them in the least.
    Of course we’ll get the usual stuff about the foxes killing poultry and so on, well, those who keep poultry should be responsible enough to ensure they are kept in secure housing particularly at night.
    Ban them.

    460
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:47 AM

    Fox hunting is unnecessary. Fox don’t attack livestock and if you have poultry you need to have them secured from predators otherwise a mink, dog or fox will wreak havoc. Regardless of your views on this sport, and I would be among those who find it barbaric, hounds running through a housing estate will kill on sight any small defenseless animal including small children or pet cats and dogs. They should be nowhere near a housing estate.

    326
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Tierney
    Favourite John Tierney
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 9:30 AM

    @Sean: When was a child last killed by a hunt? I’m intrigued

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pablo
    Favourite Pablo
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 9:59 AM

    @John Tierney: How about you tell us what’s stopping the dogs from doing it?

    How about you sit your wee kid in a field where the fox has to run past with the hounds following and then we might believe they wont go for a kid – go on!

    117
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Tierney
    Favourite John Tierney
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:22 AM

    @Pablo: You are of course right!

    http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/15/killer-urban-fox-attacks-baby-bouncer-sneaking-family-home-7314171/

    Dogs are savage. Oh wait, this a about killer foxes! Disregard!

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pablo
    Favourite Pablo
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:32 AM

    @John Tierney: Nice straw man argument though.

    Let me just get this right – your logic is because a fox can bite a human 30 dogs won’t …. genius.

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Tierney
    Favourite John Tierney
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 1:50 PM

    @Pablo: Still waiting for an example of when hunt dogs attacked a child.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pablo
    Favourite Pablo
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 5:30 PM

    @John Tierney: I’m waiting on the video of your kids out playing while the hounds wander past them to tear the fox apart. Let’s see it John.

    I’m guessing you don’t work in a job where logic is required. I’m giving up now before you drag me down to your level.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trevor Hayden
    Favourite Trevor Hayden
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:45 AM

    Absolutely disgusting, it appears we have a group of royalists in the kingdom of Kerry.

    277
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute john Appleseed
    Favourite john Appleseed
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:51 AM

    @Trevor Hayden: yes, a ‘sport’ we should have sent home with the Brits.

    296
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trevor Hayden
    Favourite Trevor Hayden
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:27 AM

    @john Appleseed: I wonder if Shane Ross will see this as a ” jolly good old tradition” that requires further investment?

    126
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute paul-m
    Favourite paul-m
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 4:56 PM

    @john Appleseed: Even the Brits have outlawed this barbarity!

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anne
    Favourite Anne
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:20 AM

    Disgusting. I hate this. So the Dail decided that this is ok. They decided on my behalf that this is acceptable. This is totally NOT acceptable. Give the vote to the people. Let us decide!

    299
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Winterfell
    Favourite Winterfell
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:21 AM

    @Anne: yes Ann! Let us decide.

    79
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cal Mooney
    Favourite Cal Mooney
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:50 AM

    @Anne: Not being deliberately political, but you hardly expected FF or FG to annoy their masters by trying to stop something like this. They get their payments and everyone and everything else is up for sale. Look at who sold themselves for 250k in FF to Denis O’Brien. That story ran in the Irish Times yesterday after a court hearing
    Nothing on the DOB owned media though. I heard somewhere DOB loves a good hunt also and pays a lot for it. Please excuse my spelling in places.

    79
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Evans
    Favourite Michael Evans
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:28 AM

    The Hunting Association said that they have a detailed code of conduct for fox hunting?!? Give me a break! No one who takes part in this disgusting ‘sport’ has any ethics, empathy or morality whatsoever and are therefore never going to abide by a code of conduct. They simply don’t care, end of.

    142
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cheeky Bums
    Favourite Cheeky Bums
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:38 AM

    So ripping defenceless animals apart still gives some people a warm fuzzy feeling in their pants.

    Stay classy down there, ya sickos.

    304
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dr Rex Butts
    Favourite Dr Rex Butts
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:16 AM

    @Cheeky Bums: there can be a case for culling, I don’t agree with in this case, but this is not how you go about it. Bunch of sad toffs, they should be chased by a pack a dogs that is a sport worth watching. If they get caught they have to spend the day mucking out in the DSPCA

    100
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Marie Gunbay
    Favourite Marie Gunbay
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:41 AM

    Whenever i hear that a member of a hunt gets injured or falls off a horse it serves them right and if they break a leg or arm they get what they deserve.

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael
    Favourite Michael
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 11:46 AM

    @Marie Gunbay: You just need to cop yourself on.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Collins
    Favourite Darren Collins
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 12:43 PM

    @Marie Gunbay: pity the don’t fall and break body parts more often

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Winterfell
    Favourite Winterfell
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:21 AM

    Ban this barbaric practice. Fox hunting, hare coursing, greyhound racing are barbarous persuits. Ban them all!

    180
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Hagin Meade
    Favourite John Hagin Meade
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:50 AM

    As I understand the law every dog must be on a lead in a public place, if not, the owner must show that the dog is under the control of the owner at all times. As these dogs were not accompanied by the owners and were clearly out of control they can and should be taken by a dog warden and a fine must be paid by the owner to have them returned. If the owner does not collect the dog within a specified time the dog may be put down. Also, the dogs MUST all be micro-chipped which will identify the owner.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Steven Harvey
    Favourite Steven Harvey
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 12:00 PM

    @John Hagin Meade: well then let’s blame the dog warden for not taking appropriate action.

    Maybe the government should put additional funding into this area and tax us else where to make up for loss of money.

    We as humans are at fault for our own down fall

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sheena Hanley
    Favourite Sheena Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:33 AM

    Ok lads, I hear your concern and accept it but have you ever spared a thought for a diary cow? Selectively bred to twice a day produce an udder of milk she can hardly bear the weigh of (the reason they queue to get milked is for relief and grain). She is bred from each year by an artificial method which involves a person inserting an arm in her rectum up to a man’s shoulder. The produce of this breeding is taken away from its mother immediately it’s born and she is sent back into the system to be milked for humans. Male calfs are virtually worthless and barely worth feeding. The cow does this for approximately 10 years and the minute her milk production drops off she is culled from the herd and sent to slaughter. Not excusing the fox hunting but he had one bad day, I would rather that to life time of low level cruelty. People who get up in arms about hunting are often blind to this cruelty.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Evans
    Favourite Michael Evans
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:37 AM

    @Sheena Hanley: Ok Sheena, I hear your point but there are children dying in Syria. You get my point, I hope!

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sheena Hanley
    Favourite Sheena Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:50 AM

    @Michael Evans: Apply your own logic to your earlier posts about fox hunting #basicbish.

    8
    See 8 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sheena Hanley
    Favourite Sheena Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:54 AM

    @Michael Evans: Oh sorry, i just realised you’re only interested in being an advocate for animals that it doesn’t involve you having to change your diet to assist

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Karen Wellington
    Favourite Karen Wellington
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:58 AM

    @Sheena Hanley: a male calf can be sold for veal, they’re hardly useless.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Evans
    Favourite Michael Evans
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 9:15 AM

    @Sheena Hanley: That’s just an assumption on your behalf and an incorrect one at that. I’ve been a vegetarian for over 25 years.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hatchjaw
    Favourite Hatchjaw
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:01 AM

    @Sheena Hanley: “involves a person inserting an arm in her rectum” I think that would be vagina. I’ve never heard of anyone falling out of their mother’s ass. Most Dairy farmers use beef bull AI. So the male Calfs are quite valuable. Sorry to dispell your vegan myth.

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sheena Hanley
    Favourite Sheena Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:17 AM

    @Michael Evans: You know dairy cows get slaughtered too? @karen Wellington: There’s 1.2million diary cows in Ireland alone in 2015 census. That’s 1.2million calves per year, roughly half of them are male. They are considered a bi product.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen O'Donoghue
    Favourite Stephen O'Donoghue
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:46 AM

    @Sheena Hanley: What you need to do is go out and get facts yourself before spouting stuff, go and talk to a farmer, maybe then you can ‘teach’, us things. Male calves are not a bi product, they are sold on to be bred for meat and culled at about 3 years of age.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sheena Hanley
    Favourite Sheena Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 2:24 PM

    @Hatchjaw: you need to study up not me. Ai process involves inserting an arm in the cows arsehole to locate the uterus, the straw is then inserted in her vagina to carry our the insemination. I grew up on a farm in Ireland so I know first hand about the ins and outs of farm life. Next.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sheena Hanley
    Favourite Sheena Hanley
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 2:33 PM

    @Stephen O’Donoghue: definition of bi product is “something produced in the process of making something else”. Beef cattle are bred to make Beef, dairy cattle are bred to produce milk, male calves are born but they cant produce milk. I’m sorry to the people who don’t like hearing this but my point is that people need to stop pretending it’s grand, especially ones up in arms about fox hunting.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Orla van der Noll
    Favourite Orla van der Noll
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 5:10 PM

    Foxes DO NOT kill lambs. Foxes are barely bigger than a new born lamb. This illusion that foxes are some big dangerous predator needs to end. I live in a rural area surrounded by fields full of sheep and every year I see a fox walking through the field and all the sheep and lambs ignore the fox. Foxes eat rodents and berries and other plants.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Karen
    Favourite Karen
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:23 AM

    Have any of you ever walked out to a hen house and seen the devastation to a flock after a fox? Sometimes they don’t just carry off what they want to eat they actually savage the remaining birds and cause devastating injuries without needing them for food. Sometimes they are half dead and have to be destroyed afterwards.Foxes are pests. Though I’m at a loss how a pack of hounds was unsupervised in a housing estate.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Evans
    Favourite Michael Evans
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:33 AM

    @Karen: A fox is an animal, it knows no better, it is just doing what is instinctual to it. Humans, I would have thought, have a little more intelligence than to want to do the same. Humans, also have the intelligence to build a fox proof enclosure for their chickens, if they have a damn in the first place but chickens are cheaper to replace so why bother!

    119
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Murnin
    Favourite Sean Murnin
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:45 AM

    @Karen: So you think it’s o.k to let a pack of hounds rip a fox apart because the fox done likewise in the hen house? Grow up. My father keeps hens so I know the damage that can be done when they aren’t secured. However, the last thing I think when I see that is I hope the dogs get that Fox for being a fox! No, we set traps and destroy the Fox in a humane manner.

    62
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat Patovic
    Favourite Pat Patovic
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 8:46 AM

    @Karen: Fox can be shot. That is far more efficient than 30 people galloping on horses for miles and miles accompanied with 50 crazed up dogs.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Enda Reynolds
    Favourite Enda Reynolds
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 9:42 AM

    @Karen: that sounds more like the work of a mink tbh

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Campbell
    Favourite John Campbell
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 9:49 AM

    @Karen: did you ever hear of locking a door and securing the poultry?

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen O'Donoghue
    Favourite Stephen O'Donoghue
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:49 AM

    @Enda Reynolds: Agreed Enda, and I have had both type of attacks.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael farrelly
    Favourite Michael farrelly
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 2:18 PM

    @Karen:you’re more of a pest than any foxes

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Walsh
    Favourite John Walsh
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 2:21 PM

    @Pat Patovic: you can’t beat it… great banter and it’s gonna live on. Up the Kildares!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony newey
    Favourite Anthony newey
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 2:55 PM

    @Karen: I hail from Leicestershire where we did keep hens which were on one occasion got at resulting in 23 dead.The solution is not to call the local hunt ,who actually rarely caught a fox ,but to contact the local farmer whose part time occupation is to track and kill the fox with his .22 rifle.The hunt are actually pretty useless when it comes to killing foxes .On one occasion my sister looked out from her farmhouse window to see the Cottesmore in full pursuit across one of her fields .Ten minutes later they were back and ten minutes after that the Fox came trotting along without a care in the world.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Fitzgerald
    Favourite John Fitzgerald
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:21 PM

    Foxhunting is both cruel and anti-farmer…Hunts devastate the lives of farmers nationwide with their repeated incursions every season: Whole fields of crops churned up…livestock scattered…fencing ripped down…family pets killed in front of children in farmyards. That’s apart from hunts charging into housing estates in rural towns and villages to show off their savagery and demonstrate their arrogance in refusing to acknowledge damage to property and willful trespass.

    And foxhunting brings cruelty to a fine art…the spade and terrier thugs are called in when a fox escapes underground. Half starved dogs are dropped down into the refuge, resulting in horrific injuries to dog and fox alike…Another method of unearthing a fox is to use a pole wrapped with barbed wire. This is lowered to make contact with the fox, which is then dragged to the surface.

    The pain racked animal is then tossed to the waiting pack, as “sportspeople” sip brandy or port from hip flasks and the thuggish element swig from beer cans, leaning on their spades.

    Foxhunting continues thanks to a powerful and incredibly wealthy pro blood sport lobby. It will cease only when we get an ethical government that considers the practice on its own merits…instead of pandering to the sadistic minority that get their kicks from watching an animal suffer and die and from listening to its pitiful screams of agony.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ray Farrell
    Favourite Ray Farrell
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 12:31 PM

    That’s absolutely shocking stuff, how can people support this antiquated savagery?
    Defenceless animals being torn to shreds , shame on the people who organise these type of events.

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute frank murphy
    Favourite frank murphy
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:08 AM

    Charge the dogs with murder so

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute johngough
    Favourite johngough
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:28 AM

    @frank murphy: Hold the hunters accountable for cruelty and public order offences. That’s horrible.

    231
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Walt Jabsco
    Favourite Walt Jabsco
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:56 AM

    @johngough:
    If an individual owned an out-of-control pet dog that was running amok and terrorising the residents of a housing estate they would be prosecuted and fined – let’s hope the same happens here.

    190
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kevin Slater
    Favourite Kevin Slater
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:21 AM

    A red coat doesn’t give you class. You’ll only ever be aping your betters. Savages on horse back

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam Treacy
    Favourite Liam Treacy
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:46 AM

    Does your cat kill mice? Isn’t that why you keep a mouse?

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute john Appleseed
    Favourite john Appleseed
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 6:50 AM

    @Liam Treacy: yes exactly why.. every Saturday I dress up like a pillock and we chase mice around the estate. Purely pest control. Tally ho

    185
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Will
    Favourite Will
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 7:39 AM

    @Liam Treacy: You keep mice? For hunting?
    Fox hunting is a barbaric practice with no value whatsoever. It is not a valid culling method. That argument is moronic.

    82
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pablo
    Favourite Pablo
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 10:04 AM

    @Liam Treacy: Is this satire ? You poor chap.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eoin Kenny
    Favourite Eoin Kenny
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 9:12 AM

    They do as they please over there .

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute thejamer
    Favourite thejamer
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 1:38 PM

    Not anti hunting but not a fan of pack hunting. Luckily no children or family pets out on the green, these pack dogs don’t differentiate once there’s blood in the air.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Steven Harvey
    Favourite Steven Harvey
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 11:00 AM

    Who cares… why is the fact an animal (or bunch) of animals, have eaten another animal. Like jeez are we supposed to wrap every one in cotton wool or what?

    The west of Ireland isn’t exactly urbanized the same way cities are. So, if you live there, you gotta put up with that

    Stop whining and accept life.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Keith McSweeney
    Favourite Keith McSweeney
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 5:20 PM

    I agree that dozens of inbred horse faced idiots on horseback hunting with 50 ór so hounds is an effective method of pest control. My local hunt has agreed to aid me with a mouse problem in my small back garden. When faced with a mouse in the shed my local hunt kindly obliged (they say as a mouse is small they will only need to use 8 horses and 20 hounds). They are due in tomorrow, lovely people.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Brennan
    Favourite Mary Brennan
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 3:27 PM

    Sure Brendan said it was a once off .Sure that’s ok then .

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gav Quinn
    Favourite Gav Quinn
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 3:57 PM

    But I decide to hunt hounds, not that’s NOT ok…?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Mc Donald
    Favourite Tony Mc Donald
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 4:34 PM

    Disgusting act…

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul McK
    Favourite Paul McK
    Report
    Mar 16th 2018, 12:52 PM

    Shitheads

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Hester
    Favourite Ian Hester
    Report
    Dec 28th 2019, 12:01 PM

    If this occurred within the National Park or Mucross make a complaint to the Rangers..NPWS…..not that they have the resources but at least let them know…this impacts on the ecological integrity of the park.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maura Rua
    Favourite Maura Rua
    Report
    Oct 10th 2018, 9:01 AM

    Control of Dogs Act 1986: dogs must be under effectual control in a public place. Why is this not being applied to hunting hounds, not the first time a pack has got out of control.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lyn Brookes
    Favourite Lyn Brookes
    Report
    Dec 29th 2019, 8:57 PM

    I keep hens, I make sure they have safe housing so they don’t get attacked at night. During the day, I accept that if I let them free range, a fox may take one, foxes only go on a frenzy when hens are cooped up. We co-exist with the fox, we understand it. They will kill when the killing is good, and come back for the bodies. If you kill a fox, another one will move into that territory so the whole pest control argument does not stand up. Let’s not forget how the white man killed all the buffalo for their own gain when the native Indians killed only when they needed to. Some humans hate the fox, perhaps they see themselves. in it. We are supposed the be the more intelligent species, lets start acting like it.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Maguire
    Favourite Fiona Maguire
    Report
    Oct 11th 2018, 1:56 PM

    Agreed 100%.broken neck be even better

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds