Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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240. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to videos of illegal hare coursing on social media (details supplied), if he will arrange for the National Parks and Wildlife Service to investigate and take action; and if monitoring of social media and video sharing websites forms are part of his Department's strategy to detect wildlife crime. [38327/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The activity shown in the video supplied appears to show illegal coursing of hares in the wider countryside and not in our National Parks. This practice, along with being unlawful under the Wildlife Acts, has also been linked to other criminal activity. Staff in my Department along with An Garda Síochána have carried out a number of joint operations in order to combat this practice and we have had six successful cases for illegal hare coursing in recent years. I would also like to confirm that NPWS enforcement staff monitor social media in order to build up intelligence as, often, the social media clips in themselves are not sufficient to sustain a prosecution through the courts.

In relation to enforcement generally, NPWS staff are working across all regions of the country to address wildlife crime and enforcement. These include Conservation Rangers and District Conservation Officers, supported by Regional Managers and Divisional Managers. There are in excess of 80 Conservation Rangers stationed right across the country at present, and I am committed to further increasing ranger numbers up to 120. This will greatly assist us in combatting this and other types of Wildlife Crime.