Issue No. 1, November 2023
A Message From the Chairman
Welcome to the first edition of the IMFHA Newsletter which we hope will be an
integral part of our communications strategy going forward.
Over the past two years the hunt insurance issue has been our priority and I am
delighted to report to you that the Board of the fund - the NHSPFS - is now
established. The IMFHA is ably represented by Mrs Kate Jarvey MFH
(Duhallow) and Pat Dillon (former MFH and now Chairman, Meath Hunt).
At our recent AGM, Pat gave an excellent and informative update on the work
of the Board and the challenges ahead. I wish to thank everyone who took the
trouble to attend the AGM. It is an important annual event.
I have chaired nine busy committee meetings over the past year. We have also
had two meetings with huntsmen which were well attended. We are confident
that the attendees were happy with the progress made and with our plans for the future.
At the AGM and at our meeting with hunts’ staff, I raised the matter of everyone’s respective
responsibilities on the day of hunting from the fieldmaster to the huntsman. It is the duty of Masters and
huntsmen to ensure that the Rules agreed with the Department of Agriculture by the Hunting Association
of Ireland in August 1988, are strictly obeyed. Any hunt club requiring a dispatcher should contact the
IMFHA office for assistance. The terrier work Rules are currently being reprinted and will be distributed
soon. I expect that all Masters of Hounds are familiar with these Rules and that they ensure compliance
with them. We do not want a repeat of what happen in the UK in our jurisdiction.
We live in an altogether different world today than that which existed 50 years or so ago. Not only have
we the on-going challenge of insurance, but we have the dual menaces of social media and the inappropriate use of mobile phone cameras in the hunting field. We ask Masters and Hunt Officials to be vigilant and to act immediately and appropriately if they see anything of concern on social media.
Notwithstanding the challenges ahead, your committee will continue to work hard and meet regularly
during the 2023/2024 season and may I take this opportunity to wish you all health, happiness and a
successful season ahead.
Lord Waterford