Paul Murphy TD has asked the Minister for Heritage to refuse 2025-26 licences for hare coursing due to the fact that the cruel activity breaches the EU Habitats Directive.
In his 29th April 2025 question, Deputy Murphy asked the Minister “if he will refuse 2025-2026 hare netting licences for coursing, given that this cruel activity causes a serious disturbance to the Irish hare in that it involves removing thousands of hares from the wild and is therefore in breach of Article 15 of the EU Habitats Directive”
Article 15 states that "in respect of the capture or killing of species of wild fauna listed in Annex V...Member States shall prohibit the use of all indiscriminate means capable of causing local disappearance of, or serious disturbance to, populations of such species".
While noting that the EU Habitats Directive “requires member states to manage the species sustainably”, Minister James Browne did not address the issue of “serious disturbance” to the species.
Hare coursing unquestionably causes a serious disturbance to the Irish Hare species. Thousands of hares are netted from the wild, held in captivity for weeks/months and eventually forced to run for their lives from pairs of muzzled greyhounds.
An insight into the netting process was provided in the “Survival, movements, home ranges and dispersal of hares after coursing and/or translocation” report based on a study commissioned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (which issues the coursing licences on behalf of the Minister): “Up to 6,000 hares are captured from the wild each year under government licence by long netting. Nets 1.5 metres tall and sometimes tens of metres long are hung from forked sticks to create a pouch at ground level. These are placed across likely exit routes from an area to be walked over by a line of beaters such that hares flushed from their daily forms run into the net. Target areas include unimproved rough pasture with substantial cover of rushes, Juncus species, in which hares shelter during daylight hours.”
In August 2024, the office of the then Heritage Minister Darragh O'Brien repeated the claim that “the impact of licensed coursing on hare status is not considered a significant pressure on the conservation status.”
This is at odds with the findings of the NPWS-commissioned survival study which found that just one of 20 hares subjected to coursing was found alive at the end. The study involved snatching 40 hares from the wild, attaching GPS collars around their necks and tracking their movements. 20 of the captured hares were forced to run for their lives at the national coursing crueltyfest in Clonmel in February 2022, while the other 20, for comparison purposes, were spared the ordeal.
The alarming results of the study strengthen the case for an end to coursing. Out of the 20 coursed hares used, just 1 was confirmed to be still alive at the end of the study. This hare was located alive after 191 days. Two other coursed hares were found dead (road traffic collision and the other possibly due to predation). It is unknown if the 17 other coursed hares were alive or dead - three were never located after release, seven were located but subsequently disappeared and seven others also went missing (their GPS collars were retrieved).
The outcome for the 20 hares who were NOT used in coursing appeared to be significantly better. A total of eight were found alive (i.e. 5 located after six months, plus 3 recaptured by coursers for the following coursing season). One hare was confirmed dead in a road traffic collision. Four were never located after release, four others were located but subsequently disappeared and another 3 went missing (their collars were retrieved).
Most of the hares who went missing were hares who had been coursed, with the report emphasising that “coursed hares were significantly more likely to be lost from this study (17/20 or 85%) than uncoursed hares (11/20 or 55%).”
It is clear from the outcome of this study - most of the hares either disappeared or were confirmed dead - that the act of interfering with hares, removing them from their natural habitats and putting them in stressful situations is bad for hares and can undoubtedly contribute to local disappearance. Article 15 of the EU Habitats Directive makes it clear that member states should prohibit “the use of all indiscriminate means capable of causing local disappearance”.
Ireland is only one of three countries in the EU where hare coursing remains lawful. Coursing has also been banned in all UK jurisdictions. In 2010, it was banned in Northern Ireland but since then, local coursers have travelled to the Republic where they are accommodated by coursing clubs here and are free to continue terrorising hares.
To comply with the EU Habitats Directive, the Irish Government must remove the Irish Hare from the Open Seasons Order and stop hare coursing (as well as the shooting of hares and the hunting of hares with packs of harrier/beagle dogs).
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
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