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Shame on Dublin Coach for sponsorsing cruel hare coursing and running coursing bus service
31 January 2017

Shame on Dublin Coach for sponsoring last weekend's hare coursing cruelty festival in Clonmel and also running a bus service to the disgraceful event.

According to a notice in the Clonmel coursing booklet - "the Irish Coursing Club is indebted to the following sponsors...BoyleSports, Horse and Jockey Hotel Thurles, The Classics Club, Stockproof Fencing Products and Dublin Coach".

A Dublin Coach ad for the coursing buses stated: "Are you going to the coursing? Get to Clonmel in luxury and we'll take you right up to the turnstiles...Coaches arrive in Clonmel approximately one hour before coursing commences and will depart one hour after coursing finishes."

As well as sponsoring hare coursing, Dublin Coach is also a sponsor of greyhound racing and is the Irish Greyhound Board's "transport partner", offering free buses from Dublin and Limerick to greyhound races.

The Dublin Coach Group also includes Darby O'Gill Tours as well as QuickPark carpark at Dublin Airport and CityScape sightseeing tours (which offer greyhound racing tickets to customers).


A hare is carried away after being severely mauled by greyhounds at the Dublin Coach-sponsored coursing event in Clonmel

 ACTION ALERTS 

Complain to Dublin Coach about its sponsorship of cruel hare coursing. If its support for the bloodsport would make you boycott Dublin Coach, Darby O'Gill Tours, QuickPark carpark and CityScape sightseeing tours, make this clear in your correspondence.

Dublin Coach
Unit 20, Western Ind Estate,
Naas Road, Dublin 12
Phone: +353 (0)1 465 9972
Email: info@dublincoach.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DublinCoach
Tweet to: @DublinCoach1

PREVIOUSLY: Dublin Coach's shameful hare coursing offer
21 January 2015

Do you travel on Dublin Coach? Did you know that the company has a shameful connection to cruel hare coursing. The commuter coach business is offering a bus service to the national hare coursing cruelty festival in Clonmel.

An ad for Dublin Coach - run by coursing enthusiast John O'Sullivan - says "Are you going to the coursing? Get to Clonmel in luxury and we'll take you right up to the turnstiles." Click here to see the ad.

"Coaches arrive in Clonmel approximately one hour before coursing commences and will depart one hour after coursing finishes," it adds.

In an Irish Examiner report in 2013, O'Sullivan was quoted as saying "We have been coursing all our lives — it’s our main interest — and we plan to support this [coursing coach] initiative and try to make it work. We run a luxury coach service around Ireland and, in this case, our emphasis is on providing a high quality service to get people to and from the national [hare coursing] meeting."

The newspaper report also outlined that a coursing DVD of the "day’s action" would be shown on the buses on the return journey.

Last August, Dublin Coach agreed a 5-year partnership with the Irish Greyhound Board (which has overall control of greyhound racing and hare coursing), becoming the board's "transport partner", offering free buses from Dublin and Limerick to greyhound races and sponsoring racing.

O'Sullivan also runs QuickTours.ie and is the owner of QuickPark carpark near Dublin Airport - which offers free greyhound racing tickets to those parking there.

 ACTION ALERTS 

Join a protest against hare coursing outside the national coursing finals in Clonmel. Organised by the Animal Rights Action Network, the demo will take place opposite Powerstown Park on Monday 2nd February 2015 between 12 midday and 2pm.

If John O'Sullivan's involvement in hare coursing would make you choose alternatives to Dublin Coach, QuickTours and QuickPark, please contact the companies now and let them know.

Dublin Coach / QuickTours
Unit 20, Western Ind. Estate,
Naas Road, Dublin 12
Phone: +353 (0)1 465 9972
Email: info@dublincoach.ie,cori@dublincoach.ie,sales@quicktours.ie
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DublinCoach

QuickPark
Santry Road
Dublin Airport
Tel: +353 (0)1 8621977
Mobile: +353 (0)87 9483973
Email: info@quickpark.ie

Express your support for a ban on coursing. Sign and share petitions

Stop Licensing Cruel Hare Coursing
Save Irish hares from cruel coursing
Ban horrific hare coursing cruelty in Ireland
Stop sponsoring hare coursing in Ireland

Urge Minister Heather Humphreys to show compassion for the persecuted Irish Hare and revoke the coursing licence she issued.

Email "Stop the cruelty. Revoke the hare coursing licence" to Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie
[Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie,ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie,taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie,joan.burton@oireachtas.ie,wildlifelicence@ahg.gov.ie,Gerry.Leckey@ahg.gov.ie]
Tel: (01) 631 3802 or (01) 631 3800
Leave a comment on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/heather.humphreysfg
Tweet to Heather Humphreys: @HHumphreysFG

SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter. Otherwise, feel free to send the short sample letter below. Be assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)

Dear Minister,

I am one of the majority who want hare coursing outlawed. I am writing to urge you to revoke the licence you issued to the Irish Coursing Club.

In coursing, hares suffer at all stages - during the capture, during the time they are kept in captivity and during the coursing meetings where they run for their lives in front of greyhounds. Among the injuries recorded are broken legs, damaged toes and dislocated hips. Every season, hare injuries and deaths are documented.

I ask you to please act on the wishes of the majority, show compassion and permanently revoke the licence.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

[Name/Location]

Appeal to the Minister for Agriculture

Please appeal to the Minister for Agriculture to remove an exemption for hare coursing from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.

Simon Coveney, TD
Minister for Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Email: Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie
Tel: 01-607 2884 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.

Urgently contact An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and ask him to back a ban on hare coursing.

An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion Street,
Dublin 2
Telephone: 01-6194020
Fax: 01-6764048
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie

Contact all your local TDs now. Demand that they urgently push for a ban on hare coursing and all bloodsports. Tell them you are one of the majority who want coursing banned. Remind them that coursing is already illegal in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Urge them to respect the wishes of the majority of the electorate and back a ban.

Find out their contact details
Please also arrange a meeting with your TDs at their local clinics.

Videos: Ireland's hare coursing cruelty


A hare is hit into the ground at the JP McManus-sponsored coursing meeting at Limerick Racecourse. February 2013

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