Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 April 2011
128 Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will direct the Office of Public Works and Coillte to put in place fire boundaries, cleared strips of land of six metres in width in Sliabh Bloom in order to prevent the spread of gorse and forest fires; the steps he will take to prevent forest fires from spreading in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7813/11]
View answerI understand a Working Group on Land and Forest Fires, established by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food reported earlier in 2011 and made 10 recommendations on tackling gorse and forest fires. The Group included representatives from a broad spectrum of interested stakeholders, including farmers, the forest industry, the Fire Service, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, Coillte, Teagasc and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Uncontrolled burning of vegetation poses a serious risk to the lives and livelihoods of farmers and forest owners throughout the country. Also, Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, as amended by Section 46 of the Wildlife Amendment Act, 2000, provides protection for vegetation on uncultivated land such as hedgerows by providing that "it shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry".
The purposes of these provisions include prevention of forest fires, protection of bird life during the nesting season and protection of vegetation and wildlife habitats during the months of growth and reproduction.
In order to ensure that fire service personnel are not placed at unnecessary risk during a forest fire call-out, one of the working group's recommendations was for forest owners properly to maintain fire breaks within their forests and to further make sure that potentially inflammable undergrowth is kept under control in line with their individual Fire Plans. While I support these measures, as part of an integrated multi-agency response to the threat posed by forest fires, I do not have any powers, nor would it be appropriate for me, to direct Coillte or the Office of Public Works to undertake the works envisaged. However, I encourage all State bodies to be vigilant against the spread of forest and gorse fires as the response to such incidents is resource intensive and also detrimental to wildlife interests.
