Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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618. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to supply a copy of the report on a gorse fire at a location (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10055/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for over 60,000 hectares of diverse landscape within our six National Parks and over 18,000 hectares within our statutory Nature Reserves. Where issues of particular importance arise regarding any of these important natural heritage assets, I am kept apprised, on an on-going basis, by my officials. Given the nature of the wildfires which took place in the southeast of the location, and given the necessity of evaluating the damage caused on an on-going basis, I received a number of oral reports from my officials on the effects of the fires. At the time of the fires themselves, I was kept apprised of the efforts of the local authority’s Fire & Rescue Service, the Air Corps of the Defence Forces, the Coast Guard, and my own officials in my Department’s National Parks and Wildlife Service in combating the fires. Most of the damage caused at the location in question occurred in the upland areas where the fires originated, with heather, gorse and mollinia (grass) burned across a large area southeast of the location.

These upland areas are very important habitats for a number of flora and fauna, including ground-nesting birds, invertebrates, small mammals and many species of insects. Shortly after the fires abated, my officials informed me that over 1,000 hectares within the location were affected by the fires and that, while the woodlands escaped serious damage, a number of trees, including oak, birch, holly, and arbutus, were scorched by the fires. I was also advised that a number of deer fences and a part of the board-walks on a long-distance walking trail, which runs through the location were damaged, but that, from an ecological perspective, the damage to uplands habitats was more serious.

Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts 1976 to 2012 currently prohibits the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation, with certain strict exemptions, from 1 March to 31 August. Section 40(1)(a) specifically provides that it is an offence to cut, grub, burn, or otherwise destroy any vegetation on any land not then cultivated. In addition, it should also be noted that section 39 of the Acts prohibits burning, in any season, within one mile of a statutory Nature Reserve or a wood which is not the property of the person burning, unless notice has been given.

Accordingly, at the time the fires occurred at the location in question, my officials indicated that they would work closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Garda Síochána, as appropriate, to investigate the cause, or causes, of the wildfires which affected the location and, where evidence is forthcoming, to pursue appropriate enforcement under the Wildlife Acts or other legislation.

Finally, the Deputy will be aware that at the time the fires occurred, I appealed to all members of the public to be conscious of the danger posed by fire, particularly on open ground where it can very quickly become an uncontrolled fire. As we now enter into the summer, this is a message I would re-iterate, and I believe that the fires which took place at the location, and the resultant damage to upland habitats and risk to our oak woodlands, will have given members of the public a greater appreciation of the value of our National Parks and Nature Reserves, and the importance of protecting our natural heritage.