Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The approach I took in this case worked satisfactorily. The control of live hare coursing, including the operation of individual coursing meetings and managing the use of hares for that activity, is carried out under the Greyhound Industry Act 1958, which is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. While I understand that many individuals are opposed to hare coursing, there is no evidence that coursing has a significant effect on hare populations. The decision to issue the licences took into consideration that favourable conservation status of the hare as detailed in the report on the status of European Union protected habitats and species in Ireland which was provided to the European Commission in 2013. Hares can show significant inter-annual fluctuations in population and recent estimates indicate that the Irish hare population varies from approximately 250,000 to more than 500,000.

Regional management staff of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department monitor compliance with the conditions of the annual licences issued to the Irish Coursing Club as resources allow. During the 2013-14 coursing season, 37% of meetings were monitored by officials from my Department. In addition, as stated in my reply to the Deputy, veterinary staff from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine carry out some monitoring inspections during the coursing season to verify compliance.

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