Cars barricading the entrance to Oylegate Church on Sunday afternoon.
THE PARISH priest at Oylegate’s St. David’s Church has said that he does not want the church grounds to become a place of conflict in a dispute between a local hunt club and members of the public who are anti-hunting.
Fr. John Byrne signed off on a letter informing hunt practitioners that they did not have permission to park horseboxes or vehicles in the church grounds, saying that the Diocesan authorities had asked that this be abided by.
However, a small number of locals subsequently barricaded the entry to the church and it is understood that at least one person, with no connection to the hunt club in question, was refused access to the car park.
Fr. Byrne said that he was not in the church on Sunday when this incident occurred and so could not comment on it. However, he was adamant that he was neither for nor against the hunt.
“The hunt didn’t have permission to park there. I wasn’t here when the entry was barricaded but I presume it was done by some anti-hunt people. I’m taking the neutral stance.
“My only concern is that the church ground does not become a place of conflict.”
Chairman of the Ballinagore Harriers Hunt Club John Leacy said that the hunt did ride out from Oylegate on Sunday but said there had never been any intention of using the church car park.
He said: “We used the church once about two years ago and we were made aware afterwards that a complaint had been made by people in the area who are anti-hunting. At that time, we said we didn’t want to cause hassle and we would use elsewhere in future.”
He also outlined the incident whereby a local man driving with a horsebox that he had been collecting from another location was refused entry to the car park when his sole intention was to visit a family grave.
Mr. Leacy said that the hunt had never had any intention of parking in the church grounds on Sunday. He said that the letter was not issued to the hunt itself but it would have been honoured. He added that he did not believe the locals had the authority to block off the church entry.
