Some farmers and landowners in Co Meath have voiced fears that hare lamping is being used as a means of cover by thieves to trespass while casing out farms for items to steal.

Community representatives in the county also report to have heard some farmers stating that certain trespassers will not leave lands when asked.

Suspicious activity on the outskirts of Slane, Co Meath, prompted chair of the local community alert service Andrew Dillon to call a public meeting on rural crime in the area.

He told the Irish Farmers Journal that the increased activity appeared to be linked with trespassing incidents involving people travelling into the area to illegally lamp hares.

“Last week, we had a local robbery, we had a helicopter out, we had a car abandoned five fields in from the road which was subsequently taken by An Garda Síochána,” he said.

Local farmers had noticed men with lurchers roaming through fields over the weeks leading up to these incidents.

“Is it a coincidence that after these guys are around, the burglaries follow?” Dillon asked.

Trespassing

Local councillor Paddy Meade relayed concerns that members of the community had raised.

“What’s happening in recent weeks is we have had lurchers out and they have been asked to leave the land and they refused,” the local councillor said.

“You don’t want to go down the road where farmers feel they need to take the law into their own hands. That is the job of the guards,” he said.

IFA crime prevention executive Barry Carey told the meeting that there were differences between those legally coursing hares after being granted all relevant permissions and individuals trespassing to illegally lamp on farmland.

“Coursing is a sport which is well governed and regulated. And again, I want to distinguish this. The people we are talking about [illegal lurchers] go on to land, cause criminal damage to gates and fences and worrying of animals,” Carey said.

Coursing v lurching

One attendee spoke on behalf of the Irish Coursing Club which is the body licensed by the Department of Housing to “capture live hares by means of nets” in activities supervised by a qualified vet.

He stated to the room without giving his name that club members only coursed on lands where the landowner had granted permission and under the terms set out in its coursing licence, also saying that the club had reported illegal activity spotted during its meets.

The difference between coursing and lurching is that the former has “no agenda to kill a hare”.

“The lurcher boys will not stop until they kill a hare,” he said.

“Our club has been having run-ins with lurcher men for the past maybe 15 years and we actually hand in car registration numbers to Ardee [Garda station] and we also provide intelligence on a regular basis to the [National] Parks and Wildlife Service.”