Irish wildlife trust say government is failing to stop illegal wild fires

The Irish Wildlife Trust has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission, claiming the government is failing in its duty to protect threatened wildlife in our uplands and hills.

The IWT says 97 illegal wild fires took place from the 24th of March and the 22nd of May 2017 in 19 counties. 39 of these were within sites designated under the Natura 2000 network - These include Killarney National Park, Wicklow Mountains National Park, Connemara, Mount Leinster in Carlow/Wexford, Mount Brandon in Kerry and the Ox Mountains in Sligo. Wild fires affect these areas annually and as a result, all were assessed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service as being in 'bad' condition.