A NUMBER OF anti-hare coursing government TDs have defended their parties’ decision to block a bill that would ban the practice.

This afternoon, a People Before Profit bill to ban hare coursing will be debated at second stage in Dáil Éireann, with a vote on whether to progress the legislation due to take place next Wednesday.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have confirmed they will be imposing a party whip on the vote, with both parties set to vote against progressing the bill.

The Social Democrats, the Greens and Labour will all be backing the bill, while it is unclear for now how Sinn Féin intends to vote, with the party’s press office declining to say whether a whip would be imposed or not.

A spokesperson for Aontú said its party has yet to make a decision also.

Hare coursing is a controversial sport that involves a hare being released in an enclosure and chased down by greyhounds, before being let go into the wild.

Although the dogs are muzzled, the hares can still be injured and even killed. Under Ireland’s Wildlife Act, hares are a protected species, but despite this, Ireland is one of only three EU countries where hare coursing is still legal.

Up to 6,000 hares are captured for coursing each year, with many killed or injured during events. Speaking on the plinth of Leinster House on Tuesday, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy urged Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin to give their TDs a free vote on this issue.

“Simon Harris recently said free votes are a good thing. We need to have more free votes in this Dáil. This is a perfect opportunity for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Sinn Féin to give their TDs a free vote and to allow them to vote to stop hare coursing,” he said.

Murphy was referring to comments made by the Tánaiste after the Dáil voted last month to remove the 3-day wait on access to abortions, in which both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael allowed a free vote on the issue.

“I think there’s a strong case for more opportunities for TDs to actually be allowed outside of the whip system, give their views on very sensitive and conscience issues,” Harris said at the time.

Asked why Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs would not be given a free vote on this issue, a Fianna Fáil government spokesperson told The Journal that votes of conscience are reserved for “extreme matters of human life and death”, adding that they are for “very senstitive and personal issues”.

A Fine Gael government spokesperson said they concurred with that and added that they were not aware of any Fine Gael members seeking a free vote.

The Journal contacted a number of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs who have been vocal on animal welfare issues in the past, including a number of TDs who previously said they were opposed to hare coursing.

In 2014, in response to a question on X (then Twitter), Fine Gael TD for Kildare North Joe Neville said he “absolutely” was opposed to hare coursing.

Asked if it is still his position that the practice should be banned, he told The Journal it was not.

He said he wasn’t up to speed with the specifics of the People Before Profit bill, but that he knows safeguards have been put in place.

Fianna Fáil TDs Cormac Devlin and Erin McGreehan told The Journal that they both personally believe hare coursing should be banned, but that they have no issue with the whip being imposed by the party on the vote.

“There’s hares outside my house, and I sit and watch them. They’re fabulous creatures, I would hate to see one of them killed by a dog,” McGreehan told The Journal, adding that she is not a fan of coursing and believes “we can do things differently”.

“My personal opinion, I don’t believe hare coursing gives any positive return for the dog, the hare or society,” the Louth TD said.

Asked why she will be voting against the PBP bill if that is the case, McGreehan said: “Because I am whipped…. That is how parliamentary democracy operates. Is it a perfect system? No, but this is how it works.”

McGreehan said to give a free vote on the issue would be to expand the remit of votes of conscience and questioned where you would then draw the line.

This position was echoed by Devlin, who added that even if Fianna Fáil allowed a free vote, he does not think a bill to ban hare coursing would be passed given the arithmetic of the Dáil currently.