Irish "wildfire" season opens (1 Viewer)

It's early spring and fire season has started.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/news...illarney-national-park/ar-BB11TsY0?li=BBr5KbJ

Funny how there are less fires in late summer. Maybe that's just me being cynical.
Paul

This was in 2011. Staying in Warrenpoint, we drove to Newry, and then left (heading to the south) and into the hills towards a loch whose name I can't remember. The scale of it was much more than the picture (couldn't upload the wider view - pic size too big). Took my breath away.

When will Irish arsonists be prosecuted I wonder? The Irish Wildlife Trust seems to suggest that paying them off might be one way to go.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/worl...f-vegetation-condemned/ar-BB12LBlX?li=BBr5MK2
The Irish Wildlife Trust said it had written to three of the large farming organisations asking for their support for three measures, including payments for farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme to restore natural habitats.

It said: “A massive, illegal wildfire has swept through the Wicklow Mountains Special Area of Conservation (SAC) through the evening of 15 April and the early hours of the 16th.

This is just the latest in a series of destructive fires that have become the hallmark of the Irish spring – obliterating nesting birds, insects and natural habitats while releasing vast quantities of smoke and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Paul

paul Robinson said:

When will Irish arsonists be prosecuted I wonder? The Irish Wildlife Trust seems to suggest that paying them off might be one way to go.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/worl...f-vegetation-condemned/ar-BB12LBlX?li=BBr5MK2
The Irish Wildlife Trust said it had written to three of the large farming organisations asking for their support for three measures, including payments for farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme to restore natural habitats.

It said: “A massive, illegal wildfire has swept through the Wicklow Mountains Special Area of Conservation (SAC) through the evening of 15 April and the early hours of the 16th.

This is just the latest in a series of destructive fires that have become the hallmark of the Irish spring – obliterating nesting birds, insects and natural habitats while releasing vast quantities of smoke and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Paul

Click to expand...

Paying them is the wrong way to go, it incentivises farmers to keep burning habitats at intervals in order to keep being paid to restore it. A good parallel would be the initial trapping schemes for Coypu in Britain, which had to be rejigged once the Ministry of Agriculture realised trappers were making sure a breeding population survived each year to keep them in business.

I I were the Irish government I would make the farmers responsible for the upkeep of the habitats but contract conservation organisations to do the actual work (so the farmers can't make money from it) and simply take the costs from the individual farmers. No fires, no costs. If a fire occurs, the relevant farmer loses money immediately. That way the farmers are incentivised to prevent fires.

John

Unfortunately that pre-supposes that local politicians and the Irish Government gives a stuff.
Paul

paul Robinson said:

Unfortunately that pre-supposes that local politicians and the Irish Government gives a stuff.
Paul

Click to expand...

That's democracy for you: the worst system of government except for all the others!

John