Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is very unfortunate that we have received confirmation that the new officers will not be in place. I disagree with the Minister of State. The existing NPWS officers are incapable of covering the events and we know that because the statistics prove it. There have been a number of very disturbing incidents already this season. Last month in Loughrea in Galway online footage showed a hare trapped, pushed and pinned to the ground by dogs before a courser runs in to pull the animal's battered body away. In County Offaly, there is online footage of a hare being hit by dogs, pinned to the ground and subjected to a long battering. In County Limerick, only last week there was an appalling incident of a hare hit by two greyhounds, desperately trying to escape, caught, mauled, pulled away by grown men, taken and thrown into a wooden box in the middle of the field. In Rathdowney, there were horrific revelations that three dogs broke into the hare coursing compound and mauled and butchered about 78 hares in the course of this week alone with the dogs having to be put down. This is an industry out of control. It is derogatory to call it a sport. It is barbarous and needs to be regulated. If we do not have extra officers employed to deal with broad functions, we need to have them diverted to this area urgently.

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