Padraic Pearse would ban hare coursing
29 January 2016

Today, Friday, January 29, the annual 3-day festival of hare coursing cruelty kicks off at Powerstown Park, Clonmel, where timid hares snatched from the wild in nets will be used as live bait for greyhounds, courtesy of a licence issued by Minister for Arts & Heritage, Heather Humphreys.

In this the year of the centenary of the 1916 Rising, the government should honour the names of Padraic and Willie Pearse by bringing an end to this cruel abuse of timid, vulnerable hares by outlawing live hare coursing. In a letter written by Padraic Pearse’s sister, Senator Margaret Pearse, to actor John Cowley (aka Tom Riordan) in 1967, she stated about her brothers, Padraic and Willie: “I am certain that were they alive today, they would be foremost in condemning coursing for the sadistic spectacle it is.”

Senator Margaret Pearse, then 89, and writing from Linden Convalescent Home in Blackrock, said that both brothers, Padraic and Willie, “would have been totally opposed to the inhuman treatment meted out to the innocent little hares at the coursing matches. At all times during their lives, they were kind to dumb animals and Padraic’s writings give many instances of his love for animals and birds.”

It is almost 50 years since that letter was written, and our government continues to turn a blind eye to the cruelty that Padraic and Willie Pearse and their sister Senator Margaret Pearse would have wanted to see outlawed. 2016 will see much pomp and ceremony acted out by the government, but if they want to pay any kind of meaningful homage to our 1916 patriots, they should, as a mark of real respect, banish hare coursing and indeed all bloodsports from these shores.

This Sunday, January 31st, a protest against hare coursing will take place outside Powerstown Park, Clonmel, from 12 noon until around 2pm.

Please make a very special effort to attend and demonstrate your opposition to this cruel activity. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you there.

Encourage friends and family members to accompany you to the protest.

When: Sunday 31st January, 12 midday to 2pm
Location: Outside Powerstown Park, Clonmel, Co Tipperary (Powerstown Road / N24)
Find location on Google Street http://tinyurl.com/6blplcw
Get Driving Directions from anywhere in Ireland www.theaa.ie/routes/
GPS Co-ordinates: 52.36279443752316,-7.683886589718633 or 52° 21′ 46.06”,-8° 18′ 58.01”

Let us know you'll be there on our Facebook Event Page

Senator Margaret Pearse's letter to John Cowley

Padraic and Willie Pearse: Totally opposed to cruel coursing

Linden Convalescent Home
Blackrock
Co Dublin

4th March 1967

Mr John Cowley
Ardbraccan
An Uaimh
Co Meath

Dear Mr Cowley

I was very glad to get your letter of the 28th ult., and to read in it your enthusiasm for the cause of having the cruel treatment of the helpless hares at coursing abolished. You may be assured of my fullest support for that campaign and any help which I could give to your efforts would be gladly given. I am glad that you were so appreciative of my recent letter to the press. I only hope that more people who think as we do will also raise their voices in protest against a cruelty which can only have ill-effects on the character of the people who participate in the so-called sport of coursing.

In my letter to the press I invoked the names of my two brothers Padraic and Willie and I was absolutely correct in affirming that they would both have been totally opposed to the inhuman treatment meted out to the innocent little hares at the coursing matches. At all times during their lives they were kind to dumb animals and Padraic's writings give many instances of his love for animals and birds. I am certain that were they alive today they would be foremost in condemning coursing for the sadistic spectacle it is.

Not only coursing but all blood sports are repugnant to me and I think that they have a debasing effect on all those who take part in them, so much so that I feel the practice of blood sports tends to make the participants indifferent to human sufferings. In my experience people who are kind and considerate to dumb animals are also kind and considerate to their fellow human beings.

Please accept my congratulations for the good work you are doing in arousing public indignation against blood sports of all kinds, and especially coursing which seems to me to be particularly and unnecessarily brutal. At my age (I am in my 89th year), there is little I could do to help you in your efforts but you can, at least, count on my unqualified support for your efforts to have coursing abolished. Keep up the good work, and may God reward your endeavours.

Yours sincerely,

Margaret M. Pearse, Senator

Video: It's time for a ban on Ireland's cruel hare coursing