'Serious amount of harm done' by gorse fires

Smoke continues to billow from smouldering bogs and forests across the midlands this afternoon.

Firefighters are battling fires at acres of forestry land in Milltownpass, at Clonsockey between Portlaoise and Mountmellick and at Ballinagar and Leamonaghan in Offaly.

Smoke is effecting visibility in parts including Ballinagar, Daingan, Ferbane and Milltownpass.

A farmer who lives between Ferbane and Leamonaghan said the sky was red from the flames yesterday evening. "There's a serious amount of harm been done," he said.

The north east has also been badly affected by the forest and gorse fires.

Firefighters are still battling blazes in Ravendale and Cooley in Co Louth.

Meanwhile, fire officers say they are now making good progress in their battle to control a series of fires on scrubland in the northwest of the country.

Fires have been raging in counties Sligo, Leitrim, Louth and Donegal since the weekend.

However chief fire officer for Sligo Paul Coyle said he was cautiously optimistic that the situation there is now under control.

"We've got the fire under control (but) I'm saying that cautiously because, with the strong winds and unburnt forestry and scrubland here, all it takes is a re-kindling and we could be back to a very serious situation again," he said.