Alan Shatter
Question:8 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry whether Bord na gCon is still giving financial support to hare-coursing in the Irish Coursing Club or if this support has been withdrawn.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Hare Coursing.
The board has discontinued providing financial assistance for coursing. No grants were provided by the board for this purpose during the 1992-93 season. During the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons any grants paid by the board for coursing were reimbursed in full by the Irish Coursing Club.
In the interests of brevity, we will let the hare sit.
That is very apt.
There is a man over there waving a white flag.
I am coming to Deputy Gregory's question now.
I wish to ask a supplementary on this question.
The Deputy is not prepared to let the hare sit.
While I accept what the Minister has said, in view of the fact that in the past public money given to Bord na gCon was channelled through that body to the Irish Coursing Club, does the Minister accept that it is an outrage that the Irish Coursing Club, which appears to carry out its activities like a secret society, has recently refused outright to make available a copy of its annual accounts to the Oireachtas Library? That is the least they should be obliged to do, so that we would have available to us the information given by the Minister today.
I am not aware of the information the Deputy has given but I will look into the matter. For the last three seasons no money has been given by Bord na gCon towards coursing. In the years 1990-91 and 1991-92 money was given but it was reimbursed. No payment was made last year.
If the Irish Coursing Club receives no public funds why should it be obliged to make available to this House its accounts?
We are entering another area now.
That is a separate question, but as Deputy Gregory has suggested that the Irish Coursing Club refused to make its accounts available to the Oireachtas Library, I will investigate the matter.
Tony Gregory
Question:9 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will amend the cruelty to Animals Act, 1965 to remove the exemption from the legal prohibition on animal cruelty given to coursing; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I would refer the Deputy to the Minister's reply on 25 February 1993 to a number of questions relating to hare coursing. In the course of his reply he stated that as part of a comprehensive review of the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958, he was also considering the question of hare coursing. Such a review will of necessity include the relevant provisions of the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1965.
May I ask the Minister, in view of the recent experience of coursing meetings at Clounana in February of this year when nearly 50 hares were savaged and killed, if this incident alone demonstrates once and for all that enclosed live hare coursing gives the unfortunate hare no reasonable chance of escape and clearly involves the infliction of unnecessary suffering on the hare? In view of this, will the Minister ensure that when the matter comes up for review live hare coursing is banned here as it has been in other countries throughout the world?
The killing of 51 hares at Clounana in February is obviously totally and utterly unacceptable. The Minister, Deputy Walsh, stated during Question Time in February that an inquiry was being conducted by the Irish Coursing Club into what happened on that day. That inquiry, which is being closely monitored and directed by officials of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, is ongoing and is expected to take some time to complete. I await that report and will act on it. In a more general context the Minister made clear the last day the position of the Department. The task force set up last July to consider the whole greyhound industry, one aspect of which is coursing, is due to report in the near future. The Minister gave an undertaking that the views expressed by Deputies and others in relation to hare coursing would be taken into consideration in reaching decisions in the context of the greyhound industry.
Will the Minister publish the findings of the investigation directed by his Department in relation to Clounana? Regardless of the incidents that occurred there, will he make his position clear? Does he not accept that the practice of enclosed live hare coursing, involving on a regular basis at virtually every coursing meeting the savaging of timid and defenceless animals by large dogs, entails unnecessary suffering? It could easily be replaced by drag coursing, which does not involve live animals, as has been done in countries such as Canada, Australia and other countries.
We are having quite a lot of repetition.
I am not stating my view at this time. Obviously, I am concerned about the unnecessary cruelty and I am keeping an open mind on the matter until the report of the task force is published. The greyhound industry is an important industry and measures need to be taken to improve it. It is an industry that not alone provides jobs, but it provides incomes for breeders, trainers and people who race dogs. As the Minister stated previously, all the views expressed will be taken into consideration in a very full and comprehensive way in reaching policy decisions in relation to the industry.
I welcome the Minister's last statement. In view of the tremendous value of the greyhound industry, not only internally but also in terms of exports, a careful view should be taken of the matter rather than considering it on the basis of one coursing meeting in any one area. I would ask anti-field sports lobbyists to stop sending letters of a personal and filthy nature to Members of this House. This matter has been investigated already by the Garda Síochána on two or three occasions.
Obviously, all Deputies would condemn any such communications. I assure Deputy Davern that in the context of the priority of the Government in terms of job creation and retention, these matters will be bottom line considerations in the review of this industry.