ICELAND/IRELAND: The Green Party has called for a consumer boycott of Icelandic goods following the resumption of whaling by that country.
The party's spokesman on the Marine, Mr Eamon Ryan TD, has also called on Irish holidaymakers considering travelling to Iceland to reconsider their plans.
"I would call on all Irish people to send a message to the Icelandic government that says we deplore this barbaric slaughter," he said yesterday. He has also called on the Irish Government to express disquiet "through every diplomatic channel open to them" over the Icelandic decision to resume whaling.
The Icelandic government announced earlier this month its intention to allow the culling of 38 minke whales a year. It had stopped the practice in 1989 following enormous international pressure to do so, including a consumer boycott of Icelandic products, particularly in Britain, Germany and the United States.
The country's whaling commissioner, Mr Stefan Asmundsson, when making the announcement a fortnight ago, said there were 43,000 minkes in Icelandic waters and that the "scientific catch" would have no impact on the status of the species.
"It's obvious to anyone that whales are very big animals and they eat a lot - a lot of fish," he said. "Precisely the effect they are having on fish stocks around Iceland, we don't know. We need better data."
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), however, said the country "could not use science to camouflage its real desire to resume commercial whaling".
The Green Party's call echoes that of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Britain, which at the weekend urged people to "think carefully" before visiting Iceland or buying Icelandic products.
Also calling on the Government to "hold the Icelandic government to account" for the move, Fine Gael said it would "demand the Minister [Mr Dermot Ahern] make representations to the Icelandic government seeking a explanation for its decision".
A spokesman for the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, said there was no intention on the part of the Minister to object to Iceland's actions.
Mr Ryan said the Icelandic decision was "very sad" and "such a retrograde step". He said it was part of a "creeping trend" internationally following the decisions of Japan and Norway to resume whaling in recent years.
