Irish hare abuse to continue.
The annual hare netting and hare tagging licences have been issued to the Irish Coursing Club and its 88 affiliated coursing clubs. Hare coursing is administered by the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) which is a body set up under the Greyhound Industry Act 1958.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, issued the licences on the 24th of July.
Under the licence, it will be legal to capture live hares by means of nets between 8 August 2025 and 28 February 2026 subject to thirty-seven conditions. These apply to the conduct of hare coursing and to the treatment of captured hares.
The licence to attach a numbered tag to hares taken in accordance with a licence issued under Section 34 of the Wildlife Acts during the period beginning on 8 August 2025 and ending on 28 February 2026 is subject to seven conditions in respect of tagging and releasing captured hares.
The issuing of the two licences does not authorise any person to enter on any land without the permission of the owner or occupier of the land to net and capture hares.
Hare Coursing Season
The hare coursing season starts on the 27th September 2025 and will end on the 22nd February 2026. Ninety-one meetings (subject to change) will be held and the season runs for twenty-two weeks.
The majority of hare coursing meetings will be enclosed where greyhounds are muzzled, however, greyhounds are not muzzled at open coursing meetings.
Meetings are held at the weekend and will run over two days. Some meetings will be held mid-week. A number of three days meetings are listed on the fixture list.
For the 2025/26 hare coursing season, the first two meetings will be held at Kilflynn, Co. Kerry and at Licannor, Co. Clare. These two-day meetings will begin on the 27th of September.
Animal welfare organisations campaigning to ban live hare coursing have condemned the decision to issue licences to allow for another season of Irish hare abuse and death.
The Irish Council Against Bloodsports (ICABS) highlighted that during the recent Biodiversity Week Heritage Minister James Browne stated: “Respecting our wildlife means protecting them”. By issuing the licences for another season of live hare coursing, the Minister words ring hollow and shows zero respect for the Irish hare.
The Irish Hare
The Irish hare- Lepus timidus hibernicus has been legally protected since 1930 in the Republic of Ireland, initially under the Game Preservation Act (1930), then by the Wildlife Act (1976) and Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000. It is listed in Appendix III of the Berne Convention, Annex V (a) of the EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and as an internationally important species in the Irish Red Data Book.
The Irish hare belongs to the species mountain hare, Lepus timidus, of which there are at least sixteen subspecies, the Irish hare only being found in Ireland. Based on carbon dating from fossil remains throughout the country the Irish hare has been present on this island since the end of the last glacial maximum 12,900 years ago.
View:
National Park and Widlife Service
Licences issued to the ICC under the Wildlife Acts to capture and tag hares for coursing meetings for the 2025/2026 season.
https://www.npws.ie/licencesandconsents/hare-coursing#repa_c
The Vincent Trust-Ireland
The Irish hare- Lepus timidus hibernicus
https://www.vincentwildlife.ie/species/irish-hare
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If you have a tip for an animal welfare issue, an animal news article, a press release, or just want to just reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you. John Tierney, Animal News Ireland/Editor