The Irish Wildlife Trust said it has received information from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that shows “throughout 2020, only two permits were issued by the National Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS] for ‘controlled’ burning in Ireland”.
“Both of these consents were in the western division with no permits issued in the eastern, southern or northern divisions,” the Irish Wildlife Trust said.
Permits from the NPWS are required where burning is planned within one of Ireland’s Natura 2000 sites, which cover approximately 13% of the country, including large upland areas.
“While all burning is prohibited during the nesting season [March to August] under the Wildlife Act, we also had out of control fires in January and February of this year, however, our data shows that there is unlikely to be any controlled burning taking place in Ireland at any time of the year.”
Irish Wildlife Trust campaign officer Pádraic Fogarty added that controlled burning of vegetation on hills “is an enormously polluting and harmful activity and is not a practical land management option in Ireland”.
Restoring native woodlands and wetlands, which naturally store water and so are wetter, gives us the best hope to minimise fire risks – while also avoiding the pollution and habitat destruction that occurs from burning of any kind.
“Land use policies, particularly forestry and farming, should promote rewilding and ecosystem restoration, rather than penalising [farmers] for having natural vegetation on their land,” Fogarty added.
Investigation into recent fires
The NPWS is examining its own drone footage, drone footage from the Civil Defence and Copernicus satellite data to investigate and fully assess damage caused by recent fires.
Fires in Wicklow Mountains National Park and the Slieve Bloom Mountains in Co. Laois “damaged protected species, put communities and private property at risk and placed unnecessary additional burden on the emergency services”, according to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State Malcom Noonan.
“The illegal fires have destroyed important upland habitat and displaced and potentially killed local wildlife at a critical time of year for many species,” Minister Noonan said.
“Both of these sites are Special Areas of Conservation [SACs] and among the most precious places in Ireland for nature.”