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

I thank the Deputy and appreciate her concerns. Suffice to say that, from my own perspective, protecting the conservation status of the hare is my primary concern. I must ensure a balanced response from Government to this particular issue. It should assuage her concerns somewhat that strict conditions have been set down. The Irish Coursing Club vet has to certify in writing that all the hares that are captured are healthy. The number of courses will be reduced proportionately. As for the number that can be coursed, it can only be done twice. These trials and field tests that are ongoing should give us a clearer picture as to the status and condition of the hares and rabbits.

No new hares have tested positive since the beginning of October and that is important. Field tests are ongoing in Limerick, Tipperary, Cork and Cavan town and will take ten weeks to conclude. It is important that we brought the Irish Coursing Club onboard, together with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in order that we had a collaborative approach to dealing with this.

I am satisfied that there is swabbing, tagging and microchipping and that the certification is in writing. All of these things should ensure that we can serve the population of the hare. The hare is not at risk in Ireland at the moment, there are 250,000 of them in the country and there is no reason why that should change. There are also 29 conditions attached generally to the licences for coursing, including an insistence on not coursing sick or injured hares. These are additional conditions. If it turns out that more hares test positive, we will have to review these licences again. It is constantly being monitored.

My door is always open to talk to both the pro-coursing and anti-coursing sides in trying to achieve a balance.

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