Written answers

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Hare Coursing Regulation

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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458. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to two incidents in which a hare was mauled and suffered severe injuries at Ballinagar coursing, County Offaly and Loughrea coursing, County Galway; if she is still of the view that the sport is well regulated and that muzzling has prevented harm coming to hares in view of the video evidence continually surfacing of hares being injured; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37155/16]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department attended the coursing meetings at Ballinagar and Loughrea referred to by the Deputy and are examining the video footage provided in relation to both meetings. This may result in discussions with the local coursing clubs and the Irish Coursing Club. I will be happy to release any reports of these meetings following completion of this process.

In August this year, my Department issued licences under the Wildlife Acts to the Irish Coursing Club, covering its affiliated coursing clubs, to capture and tag hares for use at regulated hare coursing meetings for the 2016/17 coursing season, which extends from the end of September 2016 to the end of February 2017.

There are 26 conditions in total associated with the licences issued to the Irish Coursing Club. These conditions, which have been developed and refined over a number of years, cover a wide range of issues, including prohibition on coursing hares more than once a day or coursing sick or injured hares, the need for adequate escapes for hares during coursing and releasing hares in daylight hours after meetings.

The muzzling of greyhounds at coursing meetings is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is my understanding that the Irish Coursing Club has implemented mandatory muzzling of greyhounds at regulated coursing meetings since the early 1990s. The muzzling of greyhounds appears to have proven effective in reducing the number of hare injuries and deaths at coursing meetings. For example, the percentage of hares released back into the wild after coursing meetings last season was 99.33%.

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