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

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. My responsibility relates to the conservation status of the hare. While the regulation of hare coursing is not under my statutory control, licences are required by the Irish Coursing Club under the terms of the Wildlife Acts on behalf of its affiliated clubs to facilitate the netting and tagging of hares for closed park meetings. The annual licence to capture and tag hares for the 2019-20 coursing season was issued by my Department on 9 August this year. The licences granted by my Department in such instances include a range of conditions in relation to coursing hares which are designed to provide as much protection as possible to the conservation status of the hare.

The Deputy is aware that the RHD2 virus, which affects both rabbits and hares, was discovered in a number of rabbits and hares around the country during the summer. Based on these results RHD2 appeared at the time to be widespread in Ireland. The scientific advice available to me following the issuing of the annual licences indicated at that point that the virus was highly contagious and easily spread. In these circumstances, given my responsibility in relation to the conservation status of the Irish hare, I decided to suspend the licences issued to the Irish Coursing Club on 9 August until we had a clearer understanding of the extent, spread and implications of the RHD2 virus. In mid-October, I issued revised and restricted licences to the Irish Coursing Club last month to allow the netting and tagging of hares but there are specific limitations and strict conditions attached to the issue of those licences. The Deputy tabled a Topical Issue matter on this subject and in my response, I reiterated the details regarding those trials and how we are conducting them.

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