Multiple breaches of hare coursing licence conditions have been reported to the Ministers for Heritage and Nature who are being urged to prosecute clubs and refuse further licences.
In submissions to Heritage Minister James Browne, Nature Minister Christopher O’Sullivan and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports called for action against those involved, stressing that it is an offence under Section 69(6) of the Wildlife Act to contravene a condition attached to a licence or permission, granted by the Minister.
Among the licence breaches or suspected licences breaches included:
Failure to examine for injuries hares who had been caught and pinned to the ground by dogs.
A Hare Capture Return Form not including details about all captured hares.
The presence of pregnant hares in a coursing compound.
The under-reporting of the number of hares captured for use in the cruel bloodsport.
Failure of coursing club vets to record hare injuries.
Dead hares whose deaths were unexplained not submitted for post mortem.
Absence of tag numbers of hares killed by a vet.
Absence of a report which the coursers said they made to Gardai about a “malicious break in” which resulted in the “escape” of 6 hares.
Failure by vets to provide “a signed report on the general health of the hares” who were later terrorised by dogs.
The Ministers have been urged to “act in the best interests of the threatened Irish Hare and refuse 2025-26 licences” for this shameful activity.
Reports from the past coursing season, published on the National Parks and Wildlife Service website, tell of hares with broken leg, toe injury and eye sore, a lame hare who "struggled to run off", a hare who "collapsed as it was running", a hare who died on release and "hares found dead on the morning of the day after coursing". Some of the hares caught and mauled into the ground by dogs were “euthanised as a result of injuries”.
It’s time for an an to this cruel bloodsport.
Join us in urging Ministers Browne and O’Sullivan to act on the reports of licence condition breaches, prosecute the clubs in question and refuse 2025-26 coursing licences.
ACTION ALERT
HELP THE HARES: Tell Heritage Minister James Browne and Minister of State for Nature Christopher O’Sullivan to give full protection to the Irish Hare and stop licensing cruel coursing.
Minister James Browne (Fianna Fail, Wexford)
Tel: (01) 618 3094
Email: minister@housing.gov.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.browne.enniscorthy
Twitter: https://x.com/jamesbrownetd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbrownetd/
Christopher O’Sullivan TD (Fianna Fail, Cork South West)
Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity
Tel: (01) 618 3095 or 023 88 11011
Email: mos@housing.gov.ie; christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.osullivan.716
Twitter: https://twitter.com/COSullivanTD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christopher_o_sullivan_td
Urge Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon to remove exemptions for hare coursing and fox hunting from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
Martin Heydon TD
Minister for Agriculture
Tel: 01-618 3017
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie; martin.heydon@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/martinheydonfg
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/martinheydonfg
Urge the Veterinary Council of Ireland to act to end vet involvement in hare coursing.
Niamh Muldoon
CEO, Veterinary Council of Ireland
Tel: +353 (0) 1 668 4402
Email: niamh.muldoon@vci.ie
It is time for politicians to consign coursing and hunting 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 https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/34
Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Fein and tell them that you want hare coursing and all bloodsports banned.
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Tel: 01 619 4000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Simon Harris TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01 281 3727
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntgYjH06czs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVIKc2CS4ko
Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports