Revealed: TDs who lobbied for lifting of coursing ban, despite fears for Irish Hare

Petition updateBAN CRUEL HARE COURSING IN IRELANDRevealed: TDs who lobbied for lifting of coursing ban, despite fears for Irish Hare

Irish Council Against Blood SportsMullingar, Ireland

Feb 20, 2020

A document obtained by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports has revealed the names of politicians who attended a meeting at which pressure was exerted on Minister Josepha Madigan to reverse a ban on hare coursing that had been put in place due to the deadly and highly contagious RHD2 virus.

The politicians who attended the 24 September 2019 meeting were:

Peter Burke TD (Fine Gael, Longford Westmeath)
Joe Carey TD (Fine Gael, Clare)
Pat Deering TD (Fine Gael, Carlow Kilkenny)
Tom Neville TD (Fine Gael, Limerick County)
Senator Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael, Waterford)
Councillor Michael Hegarty (Fine Gael, Cork County Council)

According to the document obtained by ICABS, the TDs present at the meeting claimed that “the issue is very important to significant parts of their constituencies” and that “there is great concern among the coursing clubs over what will happen to the dogs that have been bred for this year’s coursing season if the season cannot take place”.

The politicians were told that “the presence of the RHD2 virus in Ireland could be catastrophic for the wild hare and rabbit population” and that at that point, “12 out of 13 wild rabbits and hare carcasses, from a range of counties across Ireland, that had been tested for RHD2 virus, have returned positive results."

Regardless, the TDs said that “the priority has to be to put a plan in place and to try and find a solution."

Another meeting took place the following month. According to a 10th October report in the Irish Independent, “The Arts Minister and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed held a meeting of [unidentified] Fine Gael Oireachtas members, attended by about 30 ministers, TDs and Senators, including eight junior ministers. Ms Madigan is said to have been left under no illusion this was a big problem in rural Ireland.”

The report revealed that the Dublin Bay South TD, Kate O’Connell, was described as speaking “the most vociferously and cogently on the topic, remarkably for a Dublin TD”.

Despite acknowledging that the RHD2 virus “has the potential to wipe out the hare population completely”, Josepha Madigan agreed to lift the suspension of hare netting and allowed the coursers to go ahead and net thousands of hares for their shameful bloodsport.

It is not yet known how many more hares or rabbits have died as a result of the RHD2 virus.

Pat Deering, Tom Neville and Kate O’Connell all lost their seats in the 2020 General Election this month. While lobbying for a continuation of coursing and claiming that it is “very important to significant parts of their constituencies”, they clearly ignored the fact that a majority of the electorate are in favour of a ban on hare coursing. A RED C opinion poll has shown that 77 per cent of Irish citizens want the government to outlaw the activity, while just 9 per cent disagree with a ban. Politicians must now respect the wishes of the majority and put in place a long overdue ban on hare coursing.