'Brazen trespassing' fears on Kilkenny farms

Kilkenny farmers are being urged to work together to prevent a ‘tragedy’ in the face of ‘brazen’ trespassing on their land.
They have joined with farming communities across the country in calling for an increased garda presence following ‘threatening and unacceptable’ behaviour from ‘hunting’ groups - following an incident where a farmer was badly beaten by trespassers.

Local farm leader Denis Drennan, Deputy President of the ICMSA, is encouraging close co-operation between rural communities and Gardai in dealing with these sorties by what he termed ‘brazen and semi-organised so-called hunting groups’.

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According to the IFA, during a recent incident in Tipperary a farmer encountered men with dogs ‘lamping’ on his land. When he engaged with them the farmer was badly beaten and left concussed and with fractured ribs.
IFA Deputy President Brian Rushe said farmers are dealing with the recurring problem of gangs of men with dogs coming onto private lands and working farms, threatening livestock. The intensity of these encounters is increasing

Mr Drennan, who farms at Dunbell, said that while this kind of trespassing is no less common in Kilkenny, ‘thankfully’ there does not seem to be the kind of outright threats and intimidation of farmers that is being reported in other counties.
“I know that farmers around me in Dunbell and all across Kilkenny are generally always on the lookout for these types of groups and we would encourage farmers to work together – either through dedicated social media groups or via Community Alert – to monitor very carefully these groups arriving or travelling in a locality.

“There doesn’t appear to be the degree of outright intimidation in Kilkenny that they are seeing in Limerick and Tipperary, for instance. But that could change and like our fellow farmers right across the country we demand that the State take a much more active and clear-cut stance against this type of really threatening and unacceptable behaviour,” said Mr Drennan.

ICMSA President, Pat McCormack, met with Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee to request gardaí look harder at the growing problem of gangs trespassing farmland on the pretext of hunting and the intimidation associated with this.

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The farm organisation has been deluged with complaints and reports of encounters between farmers and gangs trespassing on farms. Mr McCormack said the scale and intensity of these encounters is rising rapidly, and he told Minister McEntee that, frankly, it was only a matter of time before one of these confrontations ended in serious injury – or worse – for one or more of the parties involved.
Mr McCormack said that ICMSA was convinced that one effective way of dealing with these groups might lie in a more rigorous enforcement of the laws around driving and vehicles — ‘practically hindering their ability to go where they want and do what they want on someone else’s property’.
“The State has to bring the focus and determination to uphold the law if tragedy is to be avoided,” he said.