Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will recall that the House voted overwhelmingly in 2013 to allow for the legal holding of hare coursing events, subject to certain conditions and restrictions. Our obligation is to ensure those regulations are complied with fully. Compliance with licences is a shared responsibility of my Department through veterinarian attendance and of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, which issues the said licences. The Deputy digressed into a host of other issues, including badgers. She will be aware that my Department is moving to a vaccination programme for badgers rather than one of culling. While culling will continue to be an element of management in certain areas, there is a movement towards vaccination and I consider it to be progressive. Hare coursing is highly regulated and much changed since the position a number of years ago. Greyhounds are muzzled now so that there is no slaughter of hares as may have previously been the case. It is highly regulated and it has the overwhelming support of the House.

See this speech in context