|
Clare Daly TD moves Bill to ban hare coursing and close stag hunting loophole
05 February 2015
Clare Daly TD has moved the first stage of the Wildlife Amendment Bill 2015 to prohibit hare coursing and deer hunting with dogs. Deputy Daly presented the Bill in Dail Eireann on Wednesday 4th February.
A full transcript of Clare's presentation appears below. In order to succeed, this Bill requires majority support in Dail Eireann. Please join us in urging TDs to support this important bill and bring cruel hare coursing and stag hunting to an end in Ireland.
ACTION ALERT
Get in touch with all your local TDs and urge them to back Deputy Clare Daly's Wildlife Amendment Bill 2015.
Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members%2Dhist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=31&disp=const
http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Members_emails/document1.htm
Email TDs online at Contact.ie - http://www.contact.ie/contact-national-politicians
Write to your TDs at: Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889.
TRANSCRIPT: Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2015: First Stage
Deputy Clare Daly: I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Wildlife Act 1976 and the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2010; and to provide for related matters.
I am aware that my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, will introduce a similar Bill in the next period. My Bill proposes to address unfinished business concerning the 2010 ban on stag hunting and to deal with the barbaric practice of hare coursing. Since the imposition of the ban on stag hunting in 2010, there have been persistent and repeated attempts by the Ward Union Hunt to surreptitiously get around it by exploiting a loophole in the 2010 Act. The Act provided for one dog to hunt deer to facilitate a situation where a farmer might have to remove a wild deer from his or her land. Unfortunately, this provision has been abused by the Ward Union Hunt. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has confirmed that it has received numerous complaints from the general public about breaches of the 2010 legislation by the Ward Union Hunt. It has also confirmed that it can happen that, while on a drag hunt, hounds can come across a deer living in the wild and chase it for a short time until called off by the huntsmen. The Ward Union Hunt is aware of the rule that dogs should be withdrawn immediately in such instances. The problem, however, is that they are not.
It seems there is an incredible number of wild deer roaming around the area in which the Ward Union Hunt hunts regularly. We had the shocking situation last Friday where a frightened stag stampeded through the main streets of Ashbourne, County Meath, presenting a danger to itself and pedestrians. The Minister of State will be aware that road safety was one of the key reasons the 2010 legislation was passed. In December a stag was chased by the hunt in Summerhill, County Meath, with reports filed on the incident by National Parks and Wildlife Service officers and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine vets.
The Bill also seeks to deal with the issue of prohibiting the practice of hare coursing, an activity to which there is growing opposition. It is a matter of fact that numerous Deputies would vote to have it banned if a free vote was allowed on the matter. It is timely that we are moving the Bill today, given the cancellation of the third day of the national hare coursing championships in Clonmel, County Tipperary. Unfortunately, they will be reconvened next Sunday. I appeal to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to intervene in this matter. The hares for the event will be kept for another week in Powerstown Park, Clonmel, in stressful and unnatural captivity. Next week they will be used as live bait, taken in boxes back to Clonmel, even more stressed and terrified. The Minister would do well to log on to the website of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports to examine some of the photographs taken by citizens of the coursing activity last weekend. They provide irrefutable evidence of massive cruelty, despite the muzzling of greyhounds, with hares pinned down, struck at high speed and tossed into the air by hyped-up dogs. It is not even a pleasant activity for the dogs. The guidance notes of the Irish Coursing Club state the dogs involved should be killed, rather than rehoused, when their time is up. They also allow for injured dogs to be raced at the behest of the stewards.
All in all, this is an incredibly unwelcome practice. The activity has already been banned in Britain, Northern Ireland, most of continental Europe and Australia. There is no need for this cruel treatment of animals. The European coursing championships were held recently, with thousands in attendance, and no hares were chased, as it was done on a mechanical and drag basis. It is important for animal rights and welfare and the protection of wildlife that the Bill be introduced.
An Ceann Comhairle: Seán Barrett Is the Bill opposed?
Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (Deputy Paul Kehoe): No, the Bill will not be opposed, but, personally, I will not be supporting it.
Deputy Clare Daly: I hope the Minister of State will have an opportunity to explain his opposition.
Deputy Mick Wallace: There is a lot of coursing in Wexford.
Question put and agreed to.
An Ceann Comhairle: Seán Barrett Since this is a Private Members' Bill, Second Stage must, under Standing Orders, be taken in Private Members' time.
Deputy Clare Daly: I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."
Question put and agreed to.
MORE ACTION ALERT
Urge Minister Heather Humphreys to close the Wildlife Act loophole which allows Ward Union to hunt deer with one dog.
Email "Stop the Ward Union. Close the Wildlife Act 'one dog' loophole" to Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie
[Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie,ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie,taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie,joan.burton@oireachtas.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
Tweet to @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 Humphreys
The Wildlife Act provides for one dog to hunt deer to facilitate a situation where a farmer might have to remove a wild deer from his or her land. This provision is being used as a loophole by the Ward Union hunt to continue their hounding of deer. I urge you to act to immediately close this loophole. Thank you. Yours sincerely, [Name/Location] |
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
Tweet to @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 Humphreys,
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.
Express your support for a ban on coursing. Sign and share thsse other 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
Videos: Ireland's hare coursing cruelty
Make a donation to ICABS
Please consider making a donation to ICABS. For more details, please click on the button below or follow this link to find out how to become a campaign supporter. Thank you.
