Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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71. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of hares that died while in captivity by coursing clubs in each of the years 2015 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9844/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Figures available to my Department from the Irish Coursing Club indicate that during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 hare coursing seasons the number of hares that died at coursing meetings was 36 and 26 respectively.  Based on returns received by my Department to date from the Irish Coursing Club on behalf of its affiliated clubs and reports by officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department, 20 hares have died at or subsequent to coursing meetings during the current 2017/18 season.

The reports generated by the Irish Coursing Club and the National Parks and Wildlife Service for the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, which would include information to identify the coursing clubs where hares died, are available on the website of the NPWS at .  Similar reports on the 2017/18 coursing season will be published on the NPWS website as they become available.