Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 June 2016
65. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 52 of 8 December 2015, how confident she is that the evidence regarding the effect of coursing on hare populations that forms the basis of the decision to issue licences for hare coursing is valid, given the last hare survey of Ireland took place almost a decade ago in 2007. [13118/16]
View answerHares are a protected species under the Wildlife Acts and may only be hunted during the prescribed Open Season. There is also a facility under these Acts to issue a licence for coursing.
I am advised that there is no current evidence that hare coursing has a significant negative impact on hare populations. The most recent population estimate for the Irish hare - undertaken in 2007 - was 535,000 animals. Coursing Clubs affiliated to the Irish Coursing Club catch in the region of 5,500 hares each coursing season, equivalent to approximately 1% of the national resource. I am further advised that more than 95% of the hares captured for hare coursing are returned to the wild each year. In addition, independent scientific studies have estimated that hare mortality during captivity and coursing in Ireland is equivalent to less than 0.1% of the total adult hare population annually.
My Department has been working with the National Biodiversity Data Centre to collate distribution records for all Irish mammals. The most recent map of these records, which are available online, show that the Irish hare remains very widespread throughout the country.
The Irish hare is also listed on Annex V of the EU Habitats Directive and this means that my Department is required to undertake an assessment of its conservation status every six years. The most recent conservation assessment, undertaken in 2013, identified changes in agricultural practises, in particular intensification of grassland usage, as the main pressure facing the hare. Nonetheless, the overall assessment considered the species to be in a favourable conservation status and concluded that “...the hare is widespread and common in Ireland with a broad habitat niche. None of the identified threats are considered likely to impact on its conservation status.”
The next EU Habitats Directive assessment is due in 2019. In advance of that, my Department will review the need for a new national hare survey to inform that report and provide up to date information on the population status of this species in Ireland.
