I propose to take Questions Nos. 296 and 297 together.
My Department issues two separate licences to the club in question on behalf of its affiliated clubs to facilitate the netting of and tagging of hares for closed park meetings. The most recent licences issued for the last 2019/20 coursing season for the tagging of hares contained 6 conditions while the licence relating to the netting of hares contained 35 conditions. These licences are available on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department at https://www.npws.ie/licences/hare-coursing.
My Department has taken sanctions against a number of coursing clubs in recent years for breaches of conditions of the licences and I set out in the table below details relating to these sanctions.
Coursing Season
|
Number of Clubs sanctioned
|
Reason for Sanction
|
Sanction
|
2015/16
|
2
|
Lack of co-operation with officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department
|
15% reduction in the number of courses to be run at the following seasons meeting
|
2016/17
|
1
|
Hares missing at the end of the meeting
|
20% reduction in the number of courses to be run at the following seasons meeting
|
2018/19
|
1
|
Hares missing at the end of the meeting
|
16% reduction in the number of courses to be run at the following seasons meeting
|
2019/20
|
1
|
High number of hare deaths at a meeting
|
40% reduction in the number of courses to be run at the following seasons meeting
|