Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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Our third matter is from Senator Ahearn. I am very interested to hear the reply to this one. I thank the Senator for raising it.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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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.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I will come back to the Senator on Knocklofty House in my summary.

In the context of the matter before us, I met with a number of gun clubs, the National Association of Regional Game Councils, NARGC, and other organisations involved that are representing the gun clubs. I recognise the important role they play in conservation, particularly of the red grouse, a very important species.

It has long been a common agricultural practice in Ireland to occasionally burn vegetation growing on uncultivated land, especially on upland farms. Much of the vegetation burned comprises gorse and mature heather. Light burning can remove old growth and, as the Senator said, stimulate new growth. The aim of such burning is to improve grazing and access for livestock. Fire was also often used in the past to dispose of waste arising from hedge and tree cutting. The burning of such dead vegetation as waste is regulated by laws concerned with air quality rather than with wildlife protection, and such law is not the responsibility of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The first Wildlife Act was enacted in 1976. Section 40 of the Act prohibits the burning of "vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry" during the period beginning 15 April and ending 31 August. Subsequently, it was noted that birds began to nest earlier than before. Accordingly, the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 restricted period to begin on 1 March. It also removed the wording "or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry".

The dates of the restricted period for the burning of living vegetation were reconsidered in 2018 and this led to the enactment of the Heritage Act 2018. Section 7(1) of the Act empowered the Minister with responsibility for natural heritage to make regulations that could allow the burning of vegetation during the month of March "in such part or parts of the State as specified in the regulations", notwithstanding section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976. No regulations were made on foot of that power. Section 7(4)(a) of the 2018 Act provides that section 7 would expire two years after the enactment date unless continued by a resolution by each House of the Oireachtas. As no such resolution was passed, section 7 of the 2018 Act expired on 17 July 2020. The position now is that there is no provision allowing for the alteration of the dates of the restricted period as set out in the Wildlife Act 1976, as amended. Any such changes would require an amendment to the Wildlife Act 1976. However, it is my intention to review and strengthen our wildlife laws, including the Wildlife Act 1976.

On the issue of burning living vegetation, while I am aware of the arguments for and against a change of dates, I have no plans at present to propose any change to the statutory dates. I recommend that all stakeholders involved should establish a forum, which I mentioned previously. It might be for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to lead on. It is important that stakeholders, such as those involved in hunting, landowners, upland-hill farmers, fire services, etc. come together in a forum where these matters could be teased out further. It is critically important that we have a broader conversation. I do see a conservation role here, but I encourage the setting up of an initiative that would bring stakeholders together under some kind of a task force that could look at upland burning and its role in the management of our hills and uplands.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response . I agree with him. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine should play a greater role in this. The Irish Farmers Association, IFA, has taken this onboard in Tipperary. We have very good members in the gun club, including Pat O'Sullivan, who I mentioned earlier, Robert Phelan and Brendan McGill. There are almost 100 members and they do incredible and fantastic work. If a body is set up, perhaps the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine would take a role. The amendment of 2000 was on the back of research done which showed that birds were nesting earlier than before, and that was why the date was put back. There is certainly a strong argument being made by the group and the IFA that birds nesting in 2022 are nesting later than they did in 2000. That should be looked at as part of the review to see if that is the case. If it is the case, perhaps something could be done on the back of it.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I agree with and would be supportive of the setting up of such a forum. I know the ABGN Gun Club would support that as well, because its members are best placed compared with anyone else to look after that land. They know it well and they love it.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I will add my tuppence worth in respect of the Cooley Mountains and the Cooley uplands farmers association, about which I have spoken to the Minister of State. We need an upland management programme that deals with invasive species, the protection of the heathers and the beauty of the biodiversity that exists. We have a great resource and we are not managing it correctly. I welcome this Commencement matter. The answer to it was great.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I welcome both comments. I was in the Cooley Mountains last week with an upland farmer. I met the Brandon Hill farmers and people involved in the Blackstairs EIP, European Innovation Partnership, project; they are fantastic people doing really important work. They need to be supported to do that. An initiative like this would be able to tease out all those issues and have a really good conversation on the best way to manage our uplands in a sustainable way. I would suggest that perhaps the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine would be a more appropriate lead. Certainly, we would play our part in such an initiative but it is critically important. These people are volunteers and they do important conservation work. We would like to support them in that way.

To return to Knocklofty, I am delighted that the built heritage investment scheme was able to support that. I would encourage the stakeholders involved in Knocklofty to look at our grant schemes and to look at a longer-term conservation plan for the project. The Department has really good grant schemes and if initiative is shown around a long-term strategy for Knocklofty I do not think any of us will be found wanting in support for having such an important built conservation project on the books.