Cancer charity won’t accept donations from hunting clubs
THE Irish Cancer Society has said it will no longer accept donations from fox hunting clubs.
Fox hunting clubs now join tobacco and alcohol businesses on its list of banned donors.
Independent Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae condemned the decision as harmful to both fox hunting and cancer patients. He said there was more regard now for foxes than people with cancer.
The move comes after complaints from cancer patients and others about the Abbeyfeale Harriers Annual Hunting Festival, which raises funds for the ICS.
A number of objectors complained that fox hunting is cruel.
The festival draws enthusiasts from across the Munster and south Leinster region. A spokesman for the event expressed disappointment at the ICS’s decision. Doug McGuinness, honorary secretary of Abbeyfeale Harriers, said yesterday: ‘[Club members] have lost loved ones to cancer themselves.’
He also said that thousands of euro had been donated by the Harriers to the ICS.
‘The Cancer Society must have so much money now they don’t need ours anymore,’ he added.
Mr Healy-Rae said it is ‘disappointing to think that people who are terminally ill may be deprived now’.
However, the ICS said it had received complaints and that it relies on members of the public for almost all of its income.
‘Following contact from a number of cancer patients/supporters who were upset about the Abbeyfeale Harriers Annual Hunting Festival, the society requested that the organisers do not send a donation to the society that is generated from fox hunt activities,’ it said.
‘The terminally ill may be deprived’