Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan has been asked FIVE TIMES to refuse a 2020-21 licence for cruel hare coursing. Speaking in the Dail on Wednesday (22 July 2020), Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore urged the Minister not to issue the licences in light of additional confirmed cases of the deadly RHD2 virus which threatens the future of the Irish Hare species.
The Wicklow TD and Social Democrats spokesperson on wildlife and biodiversity revealed that Minister Noonan’s Department “highlighted and confirmed to me this week that there have been a number of confirmed additional cases of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease identified in hares in Wexford and Kildare and in rabbits in Clare and Cork.”
“In light of that, Minister, I’m asking if you will suspend the issue of hare coursing licences as a precaution until there is further information on the disease,” she said.
Responding, Minister Noonan acknowledged that the “virus is highly contagious and easily spread and that the catching of hares in nets and their transportation in boxes and keeping them in confined areas like coursing hares parks could all be considered to increase the risk of the disease spread.”
He noted that last year, the hare netting licences were temporarily suspended by the then Minister, Josepha Madigan, before “a revised, more restrictive licence was subsequently issued”.
Pointing out that her question had not been answered, Deputy Whitmore repeated it - “Will you suspend licences going forward?”
“We need to use a precautionary approach in addressing this issue,” she told Minister Noonan. “The hare is an iconic, endemic species in Ireland. In the UK where there have been instances of this disease over the past few years and in some areas, up to 70 per cent of the population of hares was wiped out. We cannot afford to allow that to happen to our hare population and I think it’s important we restrict and suspend the licences at this point in time until we have sufficient research and data available to us to specify how widespread it is in our population across the country - not just where we find or are told of dead hares but we actually proactively go out and sample. Until that happens, we should suspend licences and I would ask the Minister again to suspend licences.”
Minister Noonan said that the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture are working to develop a national survey to increase knowledge of the prevalence of the RHD2 virus across the country. This, he outlined, would involve sampling rabbits killed by hunters, adding that “a small number of additional animals may be taken for the purpose of the survey to fill geographical gaps”.
“I share the concerns around hare coursing,” he commented. “Ultimately, this may be a decision that could fall to a senior Minister but I will give my guarantee that our department will inform the final decision on whether the licensing of netting of hares will take place this year.”
“I think it’s disappointing that you won’t say yes or no - this is an area that is in your remit,” Deputy Whitmore replied. “I would like to see a ban on hare coursing. That is not within your remit, but [the licensing] is something that is in your remit. I think from a conservation perspective, we either believe in the precautionary approach and we are there to protect and conserve our species and in order to do that we have to have the scientific data. We don’t have it in this instance so I would really, really ask the Minister to look further, perhaps talk to the senior Minister but I would ask that you suspend the licences until we have that data because untold damage could be happening at the moment. It is a highly contagious disease and allowing the netting and capture of these hares could actually be spreading it throughout a population and we really can’t afford to let that happen. So I would ask that you suspend the licensing, Minister”
“There is no commitment in the Programme for Government to ban hare coursing,” Minister Noonan responded. “Certainly we would have liked to have secured that but it’s not there. We are still collating information and data. The decision is due in the next while. I can’t give a commitment here today on whether that will be a positive or negative decision but I do think we still need to gather all the information and data and the veterinary advice in relation to this and I will give my commitment that whatever decision is made is made based on the best available data to us and that’s the only response I can give to you today.”
Watch the full exchange at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDX01oYx7sE
URGENT ACTION ALERT
Contact Minister Malcolm Noonan and urge him to refuse a 2020-21 hare coursing licence.
Malcolm Noonan TD
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform
Tel: (01) 6183148
Email: malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/
With a RED C opinion poll confirming that a 77 per cent majority of Irish citizens want hare coursing banned (with just 9 per cent disagreeing with a ban), it is now time for politicians to consign this nasty bloodsport to history. Join us in contacting all TDs and demanding that they act to ensure that a ban is urgently introduced. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
Urge Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tanaiste Leo Varadkar to respect the wishes of the majority and ban hare coursing and all bloodsports.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Contact Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour Party TDs and urge them to back a ban on cruel hare coursing.
Fianna Fail TDs
john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie; brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie; aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; michael.moynihan.td@oireachtas.ie; micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie; sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie; jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; jack@jackchambers.ie; anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie; eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie; james.lawless@oireachtas.ie; sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie; sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie; barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie; willie.odea@oireachtas.ie; niall.collins@oireachtas.ie; Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie; dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie; thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie; marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie; jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie; mary.butler@oireachtas.ie; james.browne@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie; cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie; james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie; padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie; john.lahart@oireachtas.ie; cormac@cormacdevlin.ie; normafoley1@eircom.net; joe.flaherty@oireachtas.ie; Stephen.Donnelly@oireachtas.ie
Fine Gael TDs
JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie; Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie; joe.carey@oireachtas.ie; david.stanton@oir.ie; colm.burke@oireachtas.ie; michael.creed@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie; joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie; richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie; Eoghan.Murphy@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie; emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie; neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie; josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie; Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie; bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie; kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O'Donovan@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie; alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie; michael.ring@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; damien.english@oireachtas.ie; frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie; paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie
Green Party TDs
Eamon.Ryan@greenparty.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie; patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie; francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie; neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie; brian.leddin@oireachtas.ie; steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie; marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie; roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie
ossian.smyth@greenparty.ie
Sinn Fein TDs
john.brady@oireachtas.ie; pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Crowe@oireachtas.ie; david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie; Pearse.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; dessie.ellis@oir.ie; kathleen.funchion@oireachtas.ie; martinkennysf@gmail.com; MaryLou.McDonald@oireachtas.ie; denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie; imelda.munster@oireachtas.ie; eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie; donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie; aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie; louiseoreillysf@gmail.com; maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie; Brian.Stanley@oireachtas.ie; mark.ward@oireachtas.ie; chris.andrews@oireachtas.ie; martin.browne@oireachtas.ie; matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie; sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie; roseconwaywalsh@eircom.net; reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie; pa.daly@oireachtas.ie; paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie; mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie; thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie; johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie; claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie; padraig.maclochlainn@oir.ie; johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie; ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie; darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie; patriciaryan975@gmail.com; pauline.tully@oireachtas.ie; vwynne@gmail.com
Labour Party TDs
sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie,aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie,duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie,gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie,Alan.Kelly@oireachtas.ie,brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie
Please sign and share the petitions
Ireland - Ban cruel hare coursing
www.change.org/p/ireland-ban-cruel-hare-coursing
Sinn Fein: Support a ban on cruel hare coursing
https://www.change.org/p/sinn-fein-support-a-ban-on-cruel-hare-coursing
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkXOvbUPNNjMc6LShwiiXBfnDAPbykf