Wild Fires
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Paula Butterly (FG), Louth

We are always asking responsible landowners to act as custodians of the land and to act responsibly by following the regulations as set out by the Minister in regard to burning and taking those preventative steps. However, at the same time they are also exposed to the risks created by the actions of others with limited protection or recourse. In places like the Cooley Mountains we can see how quickly fires can take hold. There have been incidents where multiple gorse fires have broken out in a matter of hours. They have stretched the local fire services and threatened homes, farmland and forestry. These are not isolated risks. It is something the communities in north Louth have experienced directly. That is especially concerning and it is why I wanted to highlight there is a pattern in some of these fires. Too often they are not accidental but started deliberately and it is the landowner who tends to have to bear the burden of the financial cost. Very often when these fires are started, whether accidentally or intentionally, we have issues where people come on to land and set fire to bales of hay during the year and then disappear. If the fire brigade is called out its staff do their job and I recognise the services of the Louth fire brigade, which is absolutely exceptional in dealing with these fires. However, then the bill comes to the landowner and they are pursued by the fire services to pay a bill for something they were not responsible for in the first place. There is a perception in Louth that the financial and emotional burden can be unfair on landowners even when they have no role in causing the fire. That sense of injustice is deeply felt and landowners are doing their very best, as the Minister knows, day in, day out. We clearly need a more balanced approach.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14