Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the risk of repeating myself which I do not want to do, I re-emphasise the separation in terms of the Department's responsibility around controlled burning. There are issues outside of the Department's control. We will continue to work in close collaboration with the Garda, the emergency services and the local authorities.

When we talk about habitat, nature and all things relating to wildlife, none of the people I meet on a daily basis in my constituency is against this debate but we must also have a debate around the co-existence of communities and habitat. It is a co-existence. In terms of sustainability, we have to work closely with communities because many of the communities have the answers. I am grateful for the officials in the Department who work on a regional basis also and who feed those community concerns back.

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