I thank Deputy Murphy for bringing this Bill forward. It is so important. Hare coursing is called a blood sport. That is where we should start. In what world is that acceptable, a blood sport? Think of what that actually means. What previous contributors have said has really landed with me today. We need to look at anything that is called a blood sport and realise that maybe in 2026, we are a little bit outdated. We are constantly talking about improving the lives of animals in this country. I am a city TD, as everybody knows. However, I have very firm roots in the countryside. I have explained before my love of tractors and the countryside. I miss the time I spent as a child in the countryside. I caution that this should never be a divide. A conversation about this cannot be divided between city and country. We are all people. It is not a judgment on country by city or vice versa. We need to work together. In other countries where this used to happen, it has been banned. That is why we need to look at it now. Things evolve and it is an evolution of that. We cannot stay static just because it is tradition. I do not like that divide between city and country because it creates division, which is not helpful. As previous speakers have said, hares are recognised in Irish law as a protected wild species. It is beyond me as to why we would have a protected species and then round them up, keep them in captivity and put them out to be chased by dogs. It does not make any sense. We would not accept that for a horse, our pet or anything else, to round up something that is protected and then use this as a way of entertaining people. I was struck by the Minister of State's comment that things had changed and evolved in the Act of 2013. I think 13 years on we might change, evolve and move to banning it altogether. We have a biodiversity crisis. Native species like hares are vital to the continuation of biodiversity. We have to look at the climate crisis that we are in at the moment and see what we are doing to preserve our future. People might say that it is only a hare. This is a balance. It is a very fine line. Deputy Aird spoke so well about how there is that line of animals, where they fit in and how it is the natural part. As Deputy Whitmore said, when we come as humans and interrupt that balance, that is where the problem is. As others have said, a free vote is important on this issue. The reason for that is people need to vote with their conscience on this. I am sure others are getting emails about hare coursing and asking us to support Deputy Murphy's Bill. I ask that each party has a free vote and that we are able to vote with our conscience. I ask Deputies to think about it deeply. What does this mean? If we are not protecting an animal, which is a protected species, what does that say to us? If we were explaining this to a young child, how would we explain that? If we cannot explain laws in simple English like that to a child and it does not make sense, then it is not making sense and it needs to move on. If we were explaining to a young child that hares are protected but we are going to let them be captured, and we then run them around and get a dog to chase after them, but then hopefully they will know how to get out and off they go, and thank God the dogs have the muzzle because then the hares will not be mauled to death because we have evolved from 2013 and evolved to moving that on, that child would look at us and say, "What? That makes no sense." Again, when we are looking at how we treat things that are more vulnerable than us, we need to be able to stand over that. There is no standing over that. I do not wish to use all my time because I am probably saying stuff that other Deputies have said. I am conscious that it is a Thursday evening and people are busy. Ireland needs to show a little bit of leadership in animal welfare. I am sure that other Bills are going to come forward in the next little while about many different animals. This is something that other countries have banned. It used to happen in Australia. New Zealand, India, England, Scotland, Wales and the US used to all have hare coursing and they do not now. We should not have it either. We should follow the example of people who have evolved. We should move towards that. I would be concerned about it going underground and the illegal coursing that might happen but then let us make sure we have enforcement, and the gardaí making sure they are doing it and all the agencies are put there to make sure that it does not happen. If it is illegal it is illegal, but that does not mean we should not go after those people who are doing those illegal things. That is not a reason not to move on from 2013 to now in 2026 to banning hare coursing.

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