Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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60. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her Department's estimation of damages caused, loss of habitat and loss of wildlife in view of the recent and ongoing spate of dangerous and severe wildfires across the countryside over the past month and in the context of the recent passage of the Heritage Bill which extends the permitted burning periods into March; and the existing measures in place to prevent illegal burning and current enforcement practices. [20415/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Significant environmental damage is caused by wildfires and the issue has become more acute in recent years. The primary responsibility in terms of fire fighting lies with the Fire Service and the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. With regard to gorse fires in particular, my Department is one of a number of agencies represented on the Inter-Agency Gorse Fire Group that explores issues surrounding such fires.  An Garda Síochána is also represented on the Group and leads any criminal investigation. My Department, of course, cooperates fully with any Garda investigations and any other investigations that may be initiated by other statutory bodies. The main source of wild gorse fires is thought to be the deliberate starting of fires without concern for the consequences.  Aside from such malicious activities, one of the main challenges is to encourage members of the public, (including landowners, farmers and recreational users of publicly accessible land), to act responsibly at all times, to be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, to be mindful of the need to protect property, both publicly owned and privately owned and to appreciate the value of our natural heritage, particularly in our National Parks, Nature Reserves and Designated (Natura 2000) Sites.

With regard to the National Parks in particular, on an on-going basis, officials from my Department are in close liaison with both the Gardaí and the Fire Service. My staff remain ever-vigilant when conditions exist that might result in fires in the National Parks.

Finally, Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts 1976, as amended, prohibits the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation, with certain strict exemptions, from 1 March to 31 August.

Following a review of Section 40, which involved, inter alia, consideration of submissions from interested parties, I announced proposals in December 2015 to introduce legislation to allow for managed hedge cutting and burning at certain times within the existing closed period on a pilot two year basis.  The legislation required to allow for these pilot measures is included in the Heritage Bill 2016, which was published in January 2016.

The Bill recently completed its passage through Seanad Éireann and will now go to Dail Éireann.  In the meantime, the existing provisions relating to Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts remain in force.

My Department will liaise with the relevant services in the context of collating data on habitat destruction in recent illegal fires.