Mr. Pádraic Fogarty:

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked whether I believed it had been wise to report to the European Commission. I do. It was the first time we had made such a complaint. There have been fires every year in recent times and they are devastating. Many of our members are from rural Ireland and live in all kinds of places. They are angry that this is happening because they see their landscape going up in smoke. We made a complaint based on the lack of Government support in protecting the habitats of these areas. The purpose of our campaigning and criticisms in recent years has always been to have changed policies such as the one Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice mentioned which requires vegetation to be grazable. That is probably the No. 1 problem being faced and the policy is something we would like to see changed.