Wildfires in many parts of the country have left thousands of acres burned.
Half of Killarney National Park, an estimated 3,000ha, was ablaze at the weekend.
Slieve Donard in Down, Northern Ireland’s highest mountain, also experienced a catastrophic wildfire.
Minister Malcolm Noonan triggered an emergency response, with a doubling of Conservation Rangers in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
He said: “We are in a climate and biodiversity emergency, and to deliberately destroy precious upland habitats in this way is absolutely criminal.”
He called on landowners, farmers and recreational users to act responsibly at all times.
Firefighters tackling a gorse fire on Mount Leinster on Tuesday night. \ Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service
Speaking on Newstalk on Wednesday, Padraig Fogarty of the Irish Wildlife Trust said the Basic Payment Scheme was a principle driver of the loss of habitat.
“Farmers have to have their land in grazable condition,with a series of rules to make sure that you don’t have bushes, scrub or vegetation above your knee,” he said.
In response, IFA president Tim Cullinan said: “Farmerss and farm animals have co-existed with the ecosystems in mountainous areas for centuries”.
An IFA statement added that burning outside of the dates set down in legislation should not happen.
“A full investigation should be carried out and those responsible should face the full rigours of the law,” it said, noting “if a farmer’s land is burned outside of season, through no fault of their own, then that farmer risks losing their payments, which is also unfair”.
Penalties
The Irish Farmers Journal queried how many cross-compliance penalties have been applied for illegal burning.
A view of the fires that spread across large areas of Killarney National Park over the weekend. \ Kerry County Council
The Department of Agriculture responded that in 2020, 231 parcels and 1,705 ha of land were identified as burned during the closed period. Not all of this area would have been subject to a financial penalty. A total of €218,663.27 of penalties were applied, but “these figures can include other penalty types such as overclaims regarding ineligible features etc”.
’Not farmers’
Fergal Monaghan of the Hen Harrier Project confirmed the loss of a nest and the hunting grounds of three further pairs in a separate wildfire outside Tralee.
I was quite shocked at the vitriol online
“It’s not a surprise,” he said. “This was inevitable because the way we’ve been managing our uplands has made the landscapes vulnerable to fire. We have to take a landscape level approach to making our upland areas safer from fires.
“I was quite shocked at the vitriol online, and the assumption that this was caused by farmers,” Monaghan added.
“That’s unlikely to have been the case.” He said that many fires start near roads and roadways, and most occur at weekends.
He also said that dumping of flammable waste in remote locations is a significant problem, and some rubbish is being burned to prevent identification.
Resilience
“Building landscape-level resilience into the CAP plan is essential, and farmers have to be at the centre of that. I would argue farmers are a major part of the solution.”
We tend to look at two events, the fire being lit and the fire being put out
He said a restoration fund will be put in place, with funds to assist fence restoration to allow appropriate grazing again. “That work starts now and will go on for years,” he said.
“We tend to look at two events, the fire being lit and the fire being put out. We neglect to look at all the things that led up to the fire, and the work after, to restore those sites.
“Fire-adapted species like purple moor grass and gorse will recover, but all the other plants and the wildlife who feed on them will be disproportionately affected.”
Wildfires in many parts of the country have left thousands of acres burned.
Half of Killarney National Park, an estimated 3,000ha, was ablaze at the weekend.
Slieve Donard in Down, Northern Ireland’s highest mountain, also experienced a catastrophic wildfire.
Minister Malcolm Noonan triggered an emergency response, with a doubling of Conservation Rangers in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
He said: “We are in a climate and biodiversity emergency, and to deliberately destroy precious upland habitats in this way is absolutely criminal.”
He called on landowners, farmers and recreational users to act responsibly at all times.
Firefighters tackling a gorse fire on Mount Leinster on Tuesday night. \ Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service
Speaking on Newstalk on Wednesday, Padraig Fogarty of the Irish Wildlife Trust said the Basic Payment Scheme was a principle driver of the loss of habitat.
“Farmers have to have their land in grazable condition,with a series of rules to make sure that you don’t have bushes, scrub or vegetation above your knee,” he said.
In response, IFA president Tim Cullinan said: “Farmerss and farm animals have co-existed with the ecosystems in mountainous areas for centuries”.
An IFA statement added that burning outside of the dates set down in legislation should not happen.
“A full investigation should be carried out and those responsible should face the full rigours of the law,” it said, noting “if a farmer’s land is burned outside of season, through no fault of their own, then that farmer risks losing their payments, which is also unfair”.
Penalties
The Irish Farmers Journal queried how many cross-compliance penalties have been applied for illegal burning.
A view of the fires that spread across large areas of Killarney National Park over the weekend. \ Kerry County Council
The Department of Agriculture responded that in 2020, 231 parcels and 1,705 ha of land were identified as burned during the closed period. Not all of this area would have been subject to a financial penalty. A total of €218,663.27 of penalties were applied, but “these figures can include other penalty types such as overclaims regarding ineligible features etc”.
’Not farmers’
Fergal Monaghan of the Hen Harrier Project confirmed the loss of a nest and the hunting grounds of three further pairs in a separate wildfire outside Tralee.
I was quite shocked at the vitriol online
“It’s not a surprise,” he said. “This was inevitable because the way we’ve been managing our uplands has made the landscapes vulnerable to fire. We have to take a landscape level approach to making our upland areas safer from fires.
“I was quite shocked at the vitriol online, and the assumption that this was caused by farmers,” Monaghan added.
“That’s unlikely to have been the case.” He said that many fires start near roads and roadways, and most occur at weekends.
He also said that dumping of flammable waste in remote locations is a significant problem, and some rubbish is being burned to prevent identification.
Resilience
“Building landscape-level resilience into the CAP plan is essential, and farmers have to be at the centre of that. I would argue farmers are a major part of the solution.”
We tend to look at two events, the fire being lit and the fire being put out
He said a restoration fund will be put in place, with funds to assist fence restoration to allow appropriate grazing again. “That work starts now and will go on for years,” he said.
“We tend to look at two events, the fire being lit and the fire being put out. We neglect to look at all the things that led up to the fire, and the work after, to restore those sites.
“Fire-adapted species like purple moor grass and gorse will recover, but all the other plants and the wildlife who feed on them will be disproportionately affected.”
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