She faces stiff resistance to her humane stance on the issue from those who profit or derive pleasure from the cruelty, including pillars of the Spanish political establishment.

For far too long Spain has been disgraced by this perverted so-called sport. The claim that tradition justifies it is meaningless. It was once " traditional" to throw Christians to the lions and virgins into volcanoes. One moves on from such barbaric practices.

Apart from the well-known final act of the bullfight, the idiotic posturing of the Matador as he plunges a sword into the bull, the whole practice is steeped in brutality and sadism.

Before the bull meets its end, it has lances and blades of various kinds jabbed into its body, to further enrage the animal.

The apparent heroism of the immaculately costumed Matador in dancing around his opponent is a myth. It is a big lie to cover up the sickening truth: that he is merely a well-dressed melodramatic coward catering to the instincts of a blood-crazed mob.

A deliberate process of torture and exhaustion weakens the bull to make the fight easier for his tormentor and to create an illusion of romantic choreography.

In fact, only after being worn down by exhaustion and repeated stabbings by the clown-like men who prance around the ring is the bull finally put out of its misery by the Matador.

May I appeal to readers who oppose this bloody barbarism to write to the Spanish Minister for the Environment, c/o the Spanish embassy in Dublin, calling for an end to the world's most evil blood sport.

John Fitzgerald Co Kilkenny