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Michael Healy Rae wants to rethink how we do fires in this country

The Kerry TD has called for a task force of interested parties to come together to deal with upland areas.

Updated at 7am

KERRY TD MICHAEL Healy Rae has called for a task force to be established to deal with how upland areas are managed.

This specifically relates to the issue of gorse fires which has been in the headlines over the past few weeks due to a number of high-profile wild fire incidents. 

Farmers are currently permitted to carry out burning operations but are subject to stringent guidelines from the Department of Agriculture.

Response

“What has happened is we have had a lot of gorse fires in Kerry and around the country in general. This is a source of concern from an environmental point of view and from farming point of view,” Healy Rae told TheJournal.ie. 

We need to have an organised approach.

He has called for participation in the task force by farmers, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Bird Watch Ireland and “any other groups that have interest”.

Regulation

The current regulations put restrictions that relate to an area that is going to be burnt (ie, away from woodland, steep slopes and national monuments) and the date on which the burn takes place.

Farmers are not permitted to carry out burns between 1 March and 31 August in any given year.

Breaking these rules constitutes an offence under the Wildlife Acts and could lead to prosecution.

On this, the Kerry TD said, “one thing I would always say is, ‘you can’t calendar a farm’… in the past when it came to the spreading of slurry, you might think the summertime is the best time, but it might rain all summer”.

Response from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is pending. 

Read: Firefighters tackled blazes in Dublin and Wicklow overnight

Also: Chainsaws are being taken from fire stations in Tipp – and one TD’s not happy

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33 Comments
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    Mute Pat Mustard
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:14 PM

    He wants a task force, ffs it’s very simple, stop illegally lighting fires. That gombeen epitomizes everything that is wrong with Irish politics.

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    Mute Del Haven
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:09 AM

    Surely a task-force-creating committee is what’s needed here.

    16
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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Apr 18th 2015, 9:30 AM

    With appropriate expenses of course.

    14
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    Mute GO GREEN
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    Apr 17th 2015, 11:18 PM

    And they wonder why wildbirds are disappearing from the landscape, if they are not poisoning them they are setting gorse fires at the height of the nesting season, and even if adult birds escape, their eggs and chicks tens thousands and thousands will have perished. Birds like the cuckoo whose numbers are disappearing rapidly. Disgusting what is happening. Scrubland burned to make it eligible for cap payments.

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    Mute John O'Neill
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    Apr 18th 2015, 12:24 AM

    They should talk Healy Rae into putting on his underpants outside his trousers and becoming….”The Gorse Whisperer”!!!!!
    With all the shite he talks, a whisper would surely smother any mountain fire…

    84
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    Mute Daisy Chainsaw
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:49 PM

    Maybe if the concerned farmers stopped setting fires, no task force would be needed.

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:05 PM

    Does he really? He had better have a word with his farming buddies so.

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    Mute Boganity
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    Apr 17th 2015, 11:32 PM

    Band Wagons and Healy Raes, it’s hard to figure out where one starts and the other ends

    78
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    Mute Sheila Larkin
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:26 PM

    Redundant lip service.

    What’s his thoughts on Eagles being poisoned? Do we need a rethink on illegal poisoning too?

    Gombeen politician. Shure doesn’t he sort the roads, eh?

    103
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    Mute John Ryan
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:34 PM

    He didn’t sort the roads , his daddy did.He’s just doing what countless other ‘politicians’ do. He’s riding the coat tails.I expect to see a third and fourth generation of this family unless something really changes in Irish politics , one of them falls foul of their political masters or commits some truly unforgivable crime.They’re installed for the next 50 years or so Im afraid.

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    Mute John Ryan
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    Apr 17th 2015, 11:08 PM

    Even if he personally knew who was lighting the fires there is no way he could go to the authorities anyway.Informers in that neck of the woods are still boycotted.Not only would his political career be over so would the family businesses. The best he can do is offer lip service , promise some kind of investigation and wait out the storm until it happens again next year.Rinse and repeat and hope that nobody loses their houses or lives.That’s the west Kerry way.

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    Mute Markonline
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    Apr 18th 2015, 9:19 AM

    He’s south Kerry.

    23
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    Mute Dave cullen
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:49 PM

    Dinosaurs are us,the Healy Rae way.

    48
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    Mute Shoda light
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    Apr 17th 2015, 10:51 PM

    Who translated his jargon into English? Another failure of a political representative trying to drum up local support as the time looms closer for re-feathering of his nest. Gravy train next stop kerry.

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    Mute Mindfulirish
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    Apr 17th 2015, 11:22 PM

    If he didn’t take so much from the exchequer in wages and business they might have some money left to pay firemen and invest in equipment.

    36
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    Mute Paul Matthews
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    Apr 17th 2015, 11:58 PM

    Only in Kerry. A task force needed on how to pee on a fire.

    26
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    Mute Keith Masterson
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    Apr 17th 2015, 11:18 PM

    Seriously Michael,wtf are you smoking.
    There has be more pressing issues than this?
    What a waste of tax you are!

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Apr 18th 2015, 9:01 AM

    Half the county getting burned down every year isn’t a pressing issue?

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    Mute Osine
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    Apr 18th 2015, 6:58 AM

    Fair play to Michael Healy Rae for bringing to attention issues that are important to his constituents, that is why he was elected. He certainly is value for money for the west Kerry people. The jewel of the independents is MHR.

    20
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    Mute Pat Mustard
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:04 AM

    Are you having a laugh, if I had someone like him representing my constituency I would be extremely embarrassed. He has the stereotype of the Kerry man off to a tee anyway.

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    Mute Osine
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    Apr 18th 2015, 2:18 PM

    He is who he is, a genuine hard working Kerryman, why does that upset you so much Pat Mustard. He is from his people and for his people, again,why does that seem to upset you. Are you expecting a cultured thespian to come from the mountains around Kilgarvan.

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    Mute Tony Le Blanc
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:26 PM

    Pay no heed Pat. Osine is either winding you up or living in a fantasy world if he can liken MHR to a precious stone. Back to your milk round and riding Mrs O ‘Reilly.

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    Mute Maris Newsome
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    Apr 18th 2015, 9:40 AM

    This guy is a moron, who thinks West Kerry (& the Republic of Killorglan) are exempt to rules governing specific practices. He will then claim that “people in Dublin”, i.e. anyone in an urban area, don’t understand the people in rural Ireland. He is merely offering soundbites as the election is looming, and we hadn’t heard from him in a week or two.

    16
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    Mute Deco James Connolly
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    Apr 18th 2015, 11:09 AM

    The farmers who graze on the commonage are known , the guards will investigate them but like every year this happens they will be unable to prove anything .
    Some of the burning happened where no grazing takes place so it could have been an arsonist or a careless walker discarding a cigarette, lots of folks camp out in the national park overnight where drinking takes place , theres no way to prove who did it unless they are caught in the act ,like it or not Healy Rae has put an idea forward which may help solve the issue , its better to talk about it because it will happen again the people that set the fires know they cant be caught, i would rather see a controlled burn rather than a random one .

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    Mute Tony Le Blanc
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:20 PM

    Yes Deco, lots of people camp or hike the national park but the setting of uncontrolled fires each year is not confined to the park, its happening all across Kerry.

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    Mute Gus Sheridan
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:32 AM

    This is the first and hopefully last time I agree with Baldy Rae totally!

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Apr 19th 2015, 3:41 PM

    When is the next funeral, lol.

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    Mute Sam McCormack
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:25 AM

    Why can’t this guy just stick to farming?

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    Mute Missyb211
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    Apr 18th 2015, 11:43 AM

    I would bet he never put his hand to farming in his life. I shook his hand once( before he introduced himself) and I have never felt a softer hand in all my days. Farmer my back side. I got the strong sense of falseness about him too,cap and all.

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    Mute Tony Le Blanc
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    Apr 18th 2015, 8:22 PM

    Task force to figure out what to do?? Ahem, allow me: Farmers are not permitted to carry out burns between 1 March and 31 August in any given year. Prosecute those who break the law. ♫Ta-daaa♫ Can you make my cheque out to cash please?

    4
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Apr 19th 2015, 3:40 PM

    What about nesting birds, it must be down to the land owner?

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    Mute James Bergin
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    Apr 18th 2015, 10:41 AM

    Huge fire was started on mountain side behind my house on Dingle last night . Still burning this morning whole area covered in smoke.

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    Mute Helen Davis
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    Apr 18th 2015, 2:39 AM

    Driving back home from Foynes to Limerick this evening there were at least 8 stacks of wood and what ever else in a field on fire! I thought this was illegal!!

    1
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