Green Party Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan has been questioned about the licensing of cruel hare coursing. Listen to the interview on the Sue Nunn show on KCLR (23 September 2020). Three times during the three minute show segment, Minister of State Noonan refers to the shameful licence as a "very restrictive licence" but restricted animal cruelty is still animal cruelty. Given the serious threat posed to the Irish Hare species by the deadly RHD2 virus, the suffering and death caused to hares in coursing and the fact that 77% of Irish people want the bloodsport banned, this licence should never have been issued. Please scroll down for our latest action alert and join calls on Minister Darragh O'Brien to withdraw the licence.
Carlow Kilkenny Green TD & Junior Minister says he had concerns over the issuing of hare coursing licences but adds it wasn’t his decision to grant them
KCLR, 24 September 2020
by Edwina Grace
Minister Malcolm Noonan says it wasn’t his decision to grant hare coursing licences.
The local Green Party Junior Minister says it was the senior minister in his Department Darragh O’Brien who signed off on a number of licences this month.
The responsibility comes under Heritage through the National Parks and Wildlife services as he outlined on KCLR’s The Way It Is with Sue Nunn “Within the heritage division we are responsible for what is a protected species, the Irish hare, so the ultimate decision comes down to the senior Minister in that regard and Darragh O’Brien issued what was a very restrictive licence for netting hares for this year which will ultimately mean about eleven meetings won’t go ahead so they are very restrictive licences”.
He admitted he had concerns over the issuing of licences for hare coursing this month noting “We’ll be commissioning another population survey for next year to look at the population of Irish hares, currently it stands, it seems to fluctuate from between around 230,000 to 300,000 animals with some cases of a very low density in a square kilometere, so I am absolutely concerned and I do think that Minister O’Brien did issue a very restrictive licence but ultimately it wasn’t my decision”.
Minister Noonan has also been called out on KCLR by Mrs Doyle actor Pauline McLynn to support a Bill banning harecoursing in Ireland. But he says his hands are tied now.
Meanwhile, during his appearance on the show Minister Noonan told The Way It is that he did need a controversial special advisor to add expertise in certain areas.
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ICABS ACTION ALERT
Contact Minister Darragh O’Brien and demand a withdrawal of the 2020-21 coursing licence.
Minister Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal)
Tel: (01) 618 3802 OR (086) 251 9893
Email: darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; minister@housing.gov.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DarraghOBrienTD
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD
Get in touch with Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, deputy leader Catherine Martin and Heritage Junior Minister Malcolm Noonan and urge them to act in accordance with Green Party policy and pledge support for Paul Murphy's Animal Health & Welfare (Ban on Hare Coursing) Bill 2020.
Eamon Ryan TD
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Catherine Martin TD
Green Party Deputy Leader and Minister for Culture and Heritage
Tel: (01) 618 3018
Email: catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Catherinemartingreen/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cathmartingreen
Malcolm Noonan TD
Heritage Minister
Tel: (01) 6183148
Email: malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm
Send a copy to the other Green Party TDs
patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie; francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie; neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie; brian.leddin@oireachtas.ie; steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie; joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie; marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie; roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie
ossian.smyth@greenparty.ie
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkXOvbUPNNjMc6LShwiiXBfnDAPbykf
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 urging them to 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
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
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