Illegal fires are degrading the countryside but enforcement is slack

The annual bonfire of our countryside is well under way. This illegal practice is massively degrading upland habitats and is driving species to extinction.

While illegal burning threatens a land-owner’s single-farm payment, the Irish Wildlife Trust believes that this is not routinely enforced. Apart from the massive damage that uncontrolled fires cause to wildlife, they also pollute water and air and threaten property.

We are calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, to condemn these fires and to confirm that cross-compliance measures will be strictly enforced.