Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in today. It is really worthwhile having him in as there are a lot of questions we could ask and engage on. I would like to focus on the issue of controlled burning. The Climate Change Advisory Council was reported yesterday as saying that 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are released annually in Ireland through wildfires and wildfire practices. Some of those would be illegal, and some would be legal. Prior to yesterday, these fires were legal. My understanding is that they can be carried out as long as a written burning plan has been done, and the landholders have engaged with various local authorities.

Annually, we hear the outcry from the public. People are very concerned about these fires and the spread of these fires. The discussion is usually around biodiversity, which is usually why we have the closed season for them, but in fact these fires are devastating for many reasons. We have air and water pollution issues, public health and safety issues, and then when they are out of control, we are putting our fire officers' lives at risk in dealing with them. Of course, on the climate issue, there are the emissions from them.

Does the Minister's Department monitor the areas of controlled burning that happens, and not necessary the illegal burning? Does the Department have an eye over all controlled burning that happens in the country, and does it quantify the emissions from those fires? Does the Minister think that in light of the climate targets that have been set, and the need for us to change our practices, and in some instances agricultural practice, that it is now time to examine whether or not these controlled burns should be a part of regular agricultural land practices?