Mr. Seán Hogan:

Last summer was certainly an interesting experience for us. We had drought conditions for an extended period that developed into a significant wild land fire issue. That was not the only issue. We were managing water supply issues with Irish Water over an extended period. Fire services were dealing with approximately 150 gorse fires per day at one stage. We had fantastic support from the Air Corps during that period. Deputy Casey will know that gorse or forest fires such as those that occurred in Killarney are almost impossible to extinguish. They are self-extinguishing. One controls them a bit whereas the helicopter provided the opportunity to actually impact. Serious damage was done on Bray Head and in that area. It is a significant issue. Our job was to manage the available resource, which was the helicopter at national level. Does it go to Laois or Wicklow today and how do we manage all that?