Clare Daly
Ceist:388. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Arts; Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of hare coursing meetings the National Parks and Wildlife Service intends to monitor in 2014. [38948/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 14 October 2014
Ceisteanna (388, 389)
Clare Daly
Ceist:389. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Arts; Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason no post-mortem evidence has been supplied to the National Parks and Wildlife Service to confirm the number of hares cited as dying from natural causes at coursing meetings. [38949/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 388 and 389 together.
Licences were issued by my Department in August under the Wildlife Acts to the Irish Coursing Club on behalf of their affiliated clubs to facilitate the tagging and capturing of hares for the purpose of hare coursing for the 2014/15 coursing season.
The control of live hare coursing, including the operation of individual coursing meetings and managing the use of hares for that activity, is carried out under the Greyhound Industry Act 1958, which is the responsibility of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Hare coursing is administered by the Irish Coursing Club, which is a body set up under the Greyhound Industry Act 1958.
Where resources allow, officials of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department attend coursing meetings, on a spot-check basis, to monitor compliance with conditions on the licences granted by my Department. Veterinary officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine also attend some meetings on an annual basis.
To assist my officials in the monitoring of these events, my Department also receives reports from the Irish Coursing Club Control Stewards and Veterinary Surgeons in attendance on the day of hare coursing meetings.
It is a licence condition that a qualified veterinary surgeon should be in attendance during all coursing meetings and that a signed report on the general health of the hares and on any injuries or deaths of hares that occur during the meeting should be submitted to my Department. While I understand that post-mortem examinations are carried out at coursing meetings in certain circumstances, it is not a licence condition that reports on these examinations are submitted to the Department. I have asked my officials to consider the issue of obtaining post mortem reports in advance of the 2015/2016 season.