Mr. Pat Dunne:

I do not know but I do know that if one wants to burn in a special area of conservation, it is a notifiable action. However, as Mr. O'Donnell said, if one wants to burn within a mile of a plantation, be it private or on Coillte land, one has to contact the Garda. Coillte, the fire brigade and local authority must be notified. One has to apply to a whole raft of people. For a long time we have been advocating for the establishment of burning groups, whereby there would be one point of contact for the farmer. It could be the environmental officer in the local county council. He or she could be contacted and told one intends to burn on such a day. That officer would be able to co-ordinate with the various interested bodies.

To follow on from what Mr. Colm O'Donnell said, we are not seeking to burn the whole countryside; rather, we want rotational burning, just as any farmer would do when reseeding the land. If a certain proportion of the mountain or other area were burned each year, none of the really big fires would occur. We saw examples of such fires earlier this summer. Thousands upon thousands of acres were burned. If burning were carried out in a controlled way and only certain areas were burned annually, it would address this. Depending on soil type, it can take ten to 15 years for the heather to reach the height it was before being burned. It grows a bit every year. If there were patchwork burning, there would not be huge fires.

I do not agree with Mr. Pádraic Fogarty from the Irish Wildlife Trust. What we want to do would support wildlife, including birdlife. The Irish Red Grouse Association is very much in favour of the proposed changes. Mr. Fogarty is not correct when he says-----