Impunity for environmental crimes sees our hills burn

Despite an annual gorse-burning ban which came into effect on March 1, fires have been reported in Mayo, Kerry, Wicklow, Donegal, Louth and Down. It is just one element of an ambivalence towards rules governing how we treat wildlife, nature and the environment, writes Ciaran Brennan

A fire broke out at the Eagle's Nest, Five Mile Bridge, Killarney National Park recently. Kerry Fire and Rescue Service crews quickly contained the fire with just half an acre destroyed. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

During the first day of nationwide checkpoints on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, under new Level 3 covid-19 restrictions which limited travel to absolutely necessary, gardaí reported huge congestion, tailbacks and traffic jams. 

Obviously, quite an extraordinary number of people thought their journeys were absolutely necessary or maybe some thought the restrictions were for other people.

It seems that quite a few people think that certain rules, regulations and laws don't apply to them – you know those small laws that govern things like speeding, breaking red lights, parking on double yellow lines, fly-tipping or dropping your litter.

It might also explain why at this time every year, hillsides and mountains around the country are set ablaze. Despite an annual gorse-burning ban which came into effect on March 1, fires have been reported in Mayo, Kerry, Wicklow, Donegal, Louth and Down.

According to Teagasc, “uncontrolled wildfires are unequivocally devastating for all uplands”. Despite this, prescribed controlled burns are extremely rare in Ireland, with the vast majority of burnt areas being the result of unregulated and uncontrolled wildfires.  

A huge area of now barren and burnt out gorseland lies blackened and dead as wild gorse fires raged across the hillsides in the Mountains of Mourne near the Silent Valley Reservoir in County Down last month. In Northern Ireland, firefighters tackled almost 150 wildfires across three days in April. Photo: Alan Lewis

These fires have a devastating impact on nature, biodiversity and wildlife, damage air quality, have long-term environmental consequences, and cause damage to amenities and national parks. Not to mention the huge costs involved for the State and the taxpayer. 

A fire in Wild Nephin National Park in Co Mayo resulted in the loss of a boardwalk specially designed for people with reduced mobility. Communities who live in the area are also put in danger. 

In Northern Ireland, firefighters tackled almost 150 wildfires across three days in April. In one incident, near Hilltown in the Mourne Mountains, residents were evacuated from their homes as a precaution.

While a man was arrested in connection with a large gorse fire in the Mourne Mountains, in reality, very few are caught and prosecuted in connection with these fires. Very little information is available on who may have been involved. There seems to be an Omerta around the perpetrators. 

Would such leniency be shown to people in the community who break other laws? Or is environmental destruction regarded as a lesser crime? But the annual wildfires are just one element of an ambivalence towards rules governing how we treat wildlife, nature and the environment.

If people have a little hierarchy of laws they deem don’t apply to them, it looks like any laws in relation to the environment are top of their ‘opt out’ list.

'Opt out’ list

The restrictions on hedge-cutting which prohibits the cutting, grubbing, burning or other destruction of vegetation between March 1 and September 30 is widely highlighted by State bodies, councils, NGOs as well as in the media, so it beggars belief that any landowner cannot be aware of the law. 

Yet the activity still persists within this timeframe. And while there have been some prosecutions, those are usually only the few that are reported to the authorities.

Elsewhere, illegal extraction of peat is continuing from raised bogs in Ireland located in special areas of conservation (SACs) in spite of a ban introduced in 2011. Gandhi said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. We’re not exactly great when it comes to how we treat wildlife. 

Poisoning, particularly of birds of prey, is a widespread and serious wildlife crime in Ireland. Badger baiting, which involves using dogs to corner a badger in a sett in order to dig them out and make them fight with dogs, may be illegal but still happens. 

Lack of enforcement, difficulties in prosecuting and paltry and inadequate penalties may also play a part in how people treat wildlife and the environment. There is little or no deterrent to habitat destruction and wildlife crime and the once promised dedicated wildlife crime unit within the National Parks and Wildlife Service failed to materialise which may tell its own story about priorities.

Ambivalence to wildlife

But in a country that provides protected species status to an animal such as the hare, yet still allows them to be captured for hare coursing, maybe it’s not surprising that welfare of wildlife means little to many people. According to the ISPCA, during the 2023/2024 coursing season, more than 3,000 hares were captured from the wild and subjected to being coursed.

And then there’s just the general way we treat the countryside around us. The advent of good weather brings its own problems, particularly around litter.

Every year, beaches and beauty spots around the country are littered after a good spell of weather.  Lack of bins is sometimes blamed. But it’s a flimsy excuse for widespread littering - if you brought your beer bottles to the beach in a bag, you can certainly bring the empties back out with you in a bag – they should even be lighter.

From now, right through the summer into the autumn, we will be greeted with huge piles of grass cuttings and garden waste dumped along roadsides. This is illegal, not to mention that it harms the environment by smothering natural vegetation, can potentially introduce invasive species and is very unsightly. 

Given the depths of the biodiversity crisis in which we now find ourselves, this a la carte approach to environment, nature and wildlife law can’t continue. 

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB