Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this important matter. This is slightly off topic, if the Chair will allow me, but I wish to I thank him for the announcement this week on the built heritage investment scheme. He has given €10,000 to Knocklofty House in my parish. He met the group Save Knocklofty House. He committed to supporting it and he has now done that. On behalf of the people involved, who are very grateful, they wanted me to thank the Minister of State for supporting them. This will go a long way to protecting that building. The Minister of State might be able to expand on it if there are measures he can take in the future to support it. I thank him for that.

I visited the Ardfinnan-Ballybacon-Grange-Newcastle, ABGN, Gun Club recently on top of the beautiful Knockmealdown Mountains. I met with a number of its members in regard to heather mulching activities on the mountain. The club's red grouse conservation project is considered vital work by the club's members, of whom there are nearly 100. Since its inception in 2004, red grouse numbers have increased by more than 30%. The club's honorary treasurer, Mr. Pat O'Sullivan, and its members believe that ensuring young heather is available to the grouse is probably the most impactful work they can do in order to ensure the grouse's successful breeding and continued presence on our lands.

The preferred method of clearing old heather for new is that of controlled burning, an activity in which ABGN Gun Club has invested, for more than 18 years, a huge amount of its time and resources with great success. Club members' success has generated much interest over the years, and they have hosted representatives of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Teagasc and the Irish Red Grouse Association on the mountain to witness the work they have done.

While they have had success in increasing the grouse population, the work is not without its challenges. Strip burning of heather to provide suitable habitat in terms of food and shelter for grouse to flourish is highly weather dependent. Since 2014, the club has not been able to undertake a burn due to the weather at weekends, the time at which members are mostly available to do this work because it is voluntary. It is for this reason that the club members have experimented with other heather management techniques. These techniques are less susceptible to disruption due to the weather but are, unfortunately, much less effective in providing a suitable habitat for grouse when compared with controlled burning. It is also very expensive. The machine they got, which I saw last week, cost €3,000. There is a great guy, Richie Long, who does it and is doing great work, but it is expensive and they have to cover the bill for that.

The current window for burning, 1 September to 28 February, is unduly restrictive, particularly when compared with our EU neighbours, whose windows extend to 15 April. A similar window here, or the ability to apply and be granted a derogation for conservation purposes, would greatly aid the voluntary work they do on the mountain. As per the Wildlife Act 1976, and the amendment made to the Act in 2000, it is not permissible to burn vegetation between 1 March and 31 August. The window to burn is between September and February but, in reality, it is only after Christmas that burning is recommended. There are a number of reasons for this. If the summer is good, the peat under the heather burns too easily, which is something one never wants. The heat of the burn helps dormant seeds to germinate. If this is done before Christmas, the seeds are open for too long and succumb to harsh weather as winter progresses. A heavy snow over winter will cover all but the tallest heather, reducing the food available to the grouse. As a result, it is better to wait until the snows have passed, which is normally in January or February. Consequently, there are only a number of weeks during which this work can be done. If there is weather like we have had in recent weeks with storms coming through, those involved really do not get any time to do this. They can only volunteer to do the work at weekends and can only do it in January and February. They are constrained in the context of time. I am interested in the Minister of State's response to see if there is something the Government can do to help them.