A Private Member's Bill to ban hare coursing will be introduced into Dail Eireann this Thursday 23 June and it is expected that a vote will be taken on it the following Thursday, 30 June.

To be lodged by Maureen O'Sullivan TD, if successful the bill would finally make illegal the capturing of hares from the wild for use as live lures for greyhounds to chase in coursing. It would be the culmination of decades of campaigning for a ban and bring the Republic into line with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where this activity has been outlawed for years.

The last Private Member's Bill to ban coursing was taken by the late Deputy Tony Gregory in 1993, which was defeated. The solution at that time was to call on the coursing clubs to muzzle the greyhounds, but this has had a very limited effect and hares continue to be struck and mauled by the greyhounds, resulting in their injury and death. And it in no way alleviated the terror and stress for hares taken from the wild in nets and forced to run before greyhounds.

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is asking people to contact their TD's and urge them to support the Bill.