Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I certainly do not support any type of sport or hobby that would in any way prejudice the welfare of an animal. The concerns of the animal welfare groups relate to the fact that they do not consider that trials are organised to familiarise hares with the most direct route to the escape, as the Deputy said, as per condition 23. The Department understands that in order to familiarise hares with the layout of the coursing field and the location of the escape in advance of coursing meetings, hares in the hare park, the enclosure in which they are kept prior to the start of the coursing meeting, will have access for some time to the coursing field. The specific inclusion by the Department of trials in the licence issued to the Irish Coursing Club since the 2017-2018 season made it a condition that the primary purpose of trials was to train hares for the regular coursing meetings. Given staffing constraints within the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Department has concentrated its efforts on monitoring regular coursing meetings and we have managed 32 to date.

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