The Alliance for Animal Rights (AFAR) [1] is an Irish animal rights movement group based in Dublin which was founded in 1989. The group claims to be the first animal rights, as opposed to animal welfare, organisation ever to form in Ireland. AFAR states that they stand for and employ "education, campaigns, legislation, and direct action."
The group have actively campaigned against the fur trade, animal experimentation, greyhound racing, zoos, animal farms, live exports, and other forms of animal use. They are currently in alliance with a younger Irish animal rights group, National Animal Rights Association (NARA) [2] in a renewed campaign against live exports to Libya and other European and African countries. This focus was prompted by the resumption of live exports from Ireland to Libya after a 17-year gap. According to Dublin's Vegan Animal Rights Bulletin, AFAR and NARA have organised a vigil at an Irish port involved in live exports, a demonstration outside of the offices of a live export company, and a "home demonstration" at the house of the company's owner. On the political front, AFAR, working closely with the Association of Hunt Saboteurs and others, were instrumental in the banning of the Ward Union Stag Hunt in 2010, and supported the Irish Green Party during its terms as a coalition partner in government in Ireland (2007-2011). There has been controversy ever since the hunt ban, with animal advocacy groups claiming that the Ward Union are still hunting after the banning legislation.