Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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789. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on legislation that would ban hare coursing. [9380/20]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Coursing is regulated under the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958, chiefly by the Irish Coursing Club (ICC), subject to the general control and direction of Bord na gCon.  Hare coursing is managed and regulated by the ICC.  The organisation consists of 89 affiliated clubs from Ireland and Northern Ireland, all of whom must abide by the ICC’s rules and regulations. 

The granting of licenses for the netting and tagging of hares is a matter for the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht – National Parks & Wildlife Service.  One of the conditions of these licenses is that hares can only be collected for coursing by those clubs which are affiliated to the ICC and must be done in strict accordance with the terms and conditions of these licenses. 

A monitoring committee on coursing is in place, comprising officials from my Department, the ICC and the National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS), to monitor developments in coursing and, in that regard, the situation is kept under constant review to ensure that coursing is run in a well-controlled and responsible manner in the interests of both hares and greyhounds.

The committee meets after each coursing season to review the outcome of all coursing meetings, having particular regard to hare and greyhound welfare.  

I believe that it is critically important that those involved in coursing operate in accordance with the regulatory framework and that the welfare of both hares and greyhounds is at the forefront at all times. I have no plans at present to alter this arrangement.