Just stay quiet and listen.

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Enclosed hare coursing, like we have in Ireland, was banned in Britain in 1914. It was deemed unsporting. It is so contrived and unnatural. Those were the words that were used by the coursing clubs that agreed with it being banned. Ireland is becoming a complete and utter outlier on animal rights. I am embarrassed at some of the things that I am about to talk about here. If anybody is listening from any other country, it is the idea that some of these practices are continuing in 2026. We have seen other countries banning greyhound racing, such as Wales, Scotland and New Zealand. This is way worse. We had a debate on fox-hunting here a few months ago. In many ways, this is worse because it is taking a wild animal, capturing it, putting it in cages for weeks on end, making it do something completely unnatural and then it is allowing greyhounds in to chase after it in a very enclosed space, although I know there are escapes. I noticed that the Minister of State kept using the word "muzzled" in his answer. The hare does not know that the greyhound is muzzled. It does not make any difference. They are running for their lives in terror. They can still have damage done to them, including injuries and so on. The fact that the hare is protected but licences are given to capture it and treat it in this way is beyond belief. In 2019, a poll was done showing that 77% wanted a ban on hare coursing. The Minister of State said that we do not run the country by poll, apparently. I am in favour of minority rights, but the point of these polls is to show how unpopular these practices are and how out of touch this Government is in maintaining them. They are backward, medieval and barbaric. That is why people do not agree with them. Unlike foxes hares are protected, yet we are allowing them to be licensed to be captured. The Minister grants these licences to specific clubs; I understand there are 89. The NSPCA is the national body - a very respected authoritative body - in relation to animal welfare. This is what it had to say about hare coursing: it is a "cruel, outdated, and barbaric practice, which is currently permitted to satisfy just a small minority of Irish people." That is an official animal welfare organisation. Hares can be held for 12 weeks before being released to be chased by dogs. They are not on their own but are in with many other animals, which is against their nature. The NSPCA is supporting this Bill and asking TDs to be allowed to vote for this Bill. It is asking for a free vote. The Minister of State mentioned a couple of things. He said that it was so well-regulated and inspected that there was no difference in the outcome for coursed and uncoursed hares. I have a summary of the study that he referred to. There were 40 hares that were GPS tracked and, across all cohorts, nine out 40 animals were confirmed alive at six months and three confirmed dead. The remaining 28, or 70%, were lost to the study. Their fate was never determined. In other words, we cannot have a credible study with this lost 70%. The assumption by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, is that they survived and went on their merry way. It is like saying that cancer patients could not be found and, therefore, they are all still alive. It just does not make any sense. On the outcome for coursed and uncoursed hares, one of the 20 coursed hares could be relocated alive six months after release compared with eight of 20 of uncoursed controlled hares. There was a massive difference in the outcome. I emphasise that this is cruel to dogs as well. It is linked with the greyhound industry. Often, dogs only last one or two seasons. The Minister of State is particularly affiliated and has a liking for this industry, but that is the reality. Greyhounds live a very short amount of time if they are raced in this way. I will mention the financial aspect. We are hearing incredible claims about millions being made from this. The Minister of State said there was a study in 2022, but he did not give any source. Maybe the Minister of State can give us the source for that. Unless he is talking about illegal gambling or something, there is no verification of €70 million anywhere. It is true that all these blood sports are linked with gambling, which is something that we should striving to eliminate completely in society and certainly not be encouraging. The damage that it does is untold. That is the only way in which it is being maintained. The Minister of State also said that it does not get any State funding. However, according to figures that I have seen, Greyhound Racing Ireland gives money to these coursing clubs. A total of €500,000 was given to the clubs between 2017 to 2022, which came largely from the Government funding that is voted in this Dáil every year. I will move on to the political aspect of this. We are calling for a free vote. Free votes have been given in the Dáil when it comes to women's bodies and women's health. If you like, they are given to things that are demonised. This should be demonised and I think there should be a free vote., Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have for far too long stood over these really bad animal rights practices. I cannot believe Sinn Féin is coming back again with exactly the same arguments recycled from a few months ago in relation to fox hunting. They are probably word for word: regulated, set up a commission, etc. This is completely out of touch with the population and its base. Sinn Féin had a debate on fox hunting and this is exactly the same. It is a blood sport and I do not understand how anyone would stand over it. It does not augur well for what Sinn Féin would do in government if it is not willing to move on these issues in opposition. In relation to some of the arguments made by Deputy Aird, I live in a place called Buzzardstown. A buzzard is a bird of prey. The Deputy stood over there telling us what a bird of prey does and I do not know what the linkage was with this issue. As has been said by other Deputies, it is constantly recited in here and happened with fox hunting, that when a fox does something that is completely natural to a fox, therefore foxes are bad. There is no justification for what was cited by the Deputy. I reiterate that this argument that it is regulated and there are more hares in areas where there is coursing and therefore we should keep hare coursing as to ban it would drive it underground is not an argument against changing a law to outlaw something. According to the Minister of State, there are loads of inspectors right now going around the coursing clubs, so those inspectors could look after the illegal, underground coursing. The reality is that a study done by The Journal found there were 200 coursing events and four inspectors between 2019 and 2024, so there is very little inspection taking place. I will finish by asking whether the Minister of State is in favour of cockfighting because, to me, it is exactly the same. It is unleashing two animals for one to damage the other for the entertainment of human beings. It is absolutely embarrassing that anybody would stand up in a parliament in this day and age and justify it but that seems to be what the Minister of State is doing. He spoke about nonsense arguments. I do not see any difference between a domestic pet and a wild animal. They all deserve to be protected. I do not see any difference at all; I do not think they should be treated differently. Maybe that is where we differ in that some animals are more important than others. There is this argument we should treat wild animals in a certain way and capture them for our entertainment. We have to lose these notions and actually decide that animals have their own integral rights to be on the planet without being used for our entertainment.

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