Judge warns young man for illegal hunting on Limerick farmer's land

“ANOTHER ONE of these gentlemen out hunting,” said Judge Patricia Harney when a lurching case came before her at Kilmallock District Court.

Lurching - the practice of hunting for hares with dogs without permission of landowners - has become a regular fixture in County Limerick court cases, and is contrary to the 1976 Wildlife Act. 

A 19-year-old with a home address at a halting site in Limerick went on a farmer’s land without permission accompanied by four males and ten dogs at Boolanisheen, Galbally on October 17, 2024.

Prosecuting Inspector Gearóid Thompson, giving evidence, said that Garda David Hennessy was called to the scene by the farmer who was aware of males on his land.

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Insp Thompson said that the males dispersed in different directions when Garda Hennessy arrived on the scene.

The offending took place when the accused was 17, and thus he cannot be named due to reporting restrictions.

Judge Harney asked defence barrister Nicholas Hall: “Had he any idea how threatened the landowner may have felt?”, to which

Mr Hall replied “at the time he [the young man] didn’t understand the legality” of his actions.

The judge commented that she “would have a lot of sympathy with the landowner with a number of males in his property”.
Judge Harney convicted the man and applied the Probation Act, with the condition that the man “keep well away from Galbally, County Limerick”.

“You need to understand that if you find yourself in Galbally it will find its way back to me,” the judge warned.

-Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme