A FARMING leader has come out against any attempt to ban hare coursing, which he said was a major sporting and social activity in parts of rural Ireland.
Jackie Cahill, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, said thousands of rural people were very passionate about the activity.
There have been reports the Green Party is attempting to have the sport banned in the renegotiated programme for government.
However, Mr Cahill, who is involved in racing greyhounds on the track but not in coursing, said such a ban would be illogical now that greyhounds were muzzled and few hare fatalities occurred.
“The sport is particularly strong in my own county, Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Kerry and there are clubs all over the State.”
There was a strong social element to the sport and two or three meetings would be held each weekend between now and February.
“Young people in rural Ireland are also involved in capturing the hares, training them and breeding dogs. The sport has not only a social but a commercial benefit to rural communities,” he said.
The Irish Coursing Club, which regulates coursing in the Republic, has said between breeding, trials and other activities, coursing is worth more than €50 million a year to the economy.
There are 70 formal coursing clubs in the Republic of Ireland and two in Northern Ireland that now operate in the Republic because the sport is banned there.
More than 10,000 people attend the annual national coursing event in Clonmel, Co Tipperary – worth at least €16 million to the local economy, organisers say. More than 80 coursing events are held across the State each year.
Since 1993, it has been compulsory for greyhounds taking part in coursing to be muzzled and, when hares have been coursed, they are released back into the wild. However anti-blood sport organisations claim hares are being coursed more than once, which is illegal.
Should Fianna Fáil have to concede a ban on hare coursing to its Green Party Coalition partners, political observers say it would severely affect backbench TDs in retaining seats in Tipperary, Cork and Limerick and would put pressure on Jackie Healy-Rea in Kerry.
According to Irish Times writer and wildlife expert, Michael Viney,National Parks and Wildlife Service figures showed there were 233,000 hares in the State in early 2006 and this figures doubled to 535,000 in 2007. However, he expressed some doubt about the figures, which were compiled by an expert group from Queen’s University Belfast.