Murphy urges ban on 'cruel practice' of coursing

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy has said he wants the law to change on hare coursing due to it being a "cruel practice".

Mr Murphy will bring forward a bill to ban the sport in the Dáil on Wednesday next week, and, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said Ireland needs to catch up with the rest of Europe in outlawing coursing.

"What is involved here is the capture of thousands of Irish hares on a yearly basis," said Mr Murphy.

"They are put in cages, temporarily, and then they are put in enclosures with each other."

Mr Murphy said the hares are kept over several months, trained and then "chased after by dogs".

"The reason that they run, the basis of the so-called sport, is because they are terrified they are going to be killed by the dogs."

He said that in the majority of cases the hares are not killed as the dogs are muzzled "but nonetheless they are terrified, in very many cases they are injured … and sometimes they are killed".

He added that "We should not as a society, in 2026, be treating beautiful Irish hares in this way for our entertainment".

'A hugely regulated sport' - FF TD Cleere

The Government is to oppose Mr Murphy's motion, with Coalition representatives not receiving a free vote on the issue.

Speaking on the same programme, Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow-Kilkenny Peter 'Chap' Cleere said that hare coursing is one of the most regulated sports in Ireland and a really popular rural tradition, with roughly 90 clubs around the country.

"They have to have a vet on course or they cannot run," Mr Cleere said. "They have wildlife stewards. They have their own Irish Coursing Club stewards.

"And the last thing any club wants to see is a hare hurt. But this is a tradition.

"Economically, it's worth about €70m to the Irish economy, every single year.

"It only runs in the winter months, but in Tipperary and Clonmel, the national meeting is held in February. There are 10,000 spectators turn up to this. It's worth about €16m or €17m to the local economy.

"So economically, it's a huge driver, but actually as a sport and as a rural tradition, this has been going for the last 110 years in sports club as well.

"The Government has been very clear in its position that we're going to continue to support hare coursing along with the greyhound industry and along with the horse racing industry."

On the suggestion that hare coursing is cruel, Mr Cleere said that hares are legally protected under the Wildlife Act in Ireland and that coursing "already operates under one of the most tightly controlled regulatory frameworks in any field sport in Ireland.

"Hares are legally protected. Catching and tagging requires strict adherence to these conditions...

"Greyhounds are muzzled at every single event. I think that's really important and all hares are released back into the countryside after the event under supervision.

"This is a hugely regulated sport and my view is that we need to continue this sport in a regulated manner rather than going down the route of having this unregulated."

Mr Murphy said that proper inspections would have to take place if coursing was banned to make sure that it does not go underground.

He said that Ireland was correct to ban cockfighting, which he said "did not then flourish underground".

Mr Cleere said that Fianna Fáil and the Government are committed to the highest standards of animal welfare.

"That's not in question here. What's in question here is the rural tradition and the reality is if we go down the road of banning hare coursing, and of course incidents happen, and it's absolutely regrettable, but incidents happen in horse racing, incidents happen in greyhound tracks and my worry is if hare coursing is banned first, what's next?

"You know, do we want to ban the horse-racing industry? An industry that's worth €2.4bn to the Irish economy, 30,000 people employed to the greyhound industry.

"You've got 4,500 people employed in the greyhound industry, it's worth over €100m in the Irish economy, so there's an economic benefit, absolutely, but it's also a social thing, and it's very hard as a rural TD, with respect to an urban city TD, to listen to somebody from Dublin telling me how rural traditions aren't important and the need to be accounted because it's so important."

Mr Murphy said that an opinion poll from 2019 found that 77% of respondents wanted to see hare coursing banned and that there was no urban-rural divide on the issue.

He said that that was often used to try to "defend an indefensible practice of using these little creatures as live bait for animals that are 10 times their weight".

Mr Cleere said he was confident that the vote to ban hare coursing will not pass in the Dáil.

"Government has been very clear in terms of its position, in terms of the support of this," he said.

"There was a very detailed debate held a number of years ago in terms of the passage of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, but this is a huge tradition in rural Ireland, in the constituency I represent ... And I understand that there is a lot of feeling out there on this particular issue.

"But from my perspective, as a rural TD and the constituents that I represent, hare course is hugely important. From a social, from an economic perspective, it's massive."