Agriculture Minister urges caution in countryside over wildfire risk

Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir has urged caution in relation to wildfires in Northern Ireland, saying “worries arise” with temperatures set to rise in the region.

During a dry spell in April last year the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) reported attending nearly 300 wildfire incidents.

These included a blaze in the Mourne Mountains in Co Down which sparked a major incident and saw people evacuated from their homes.

During question time at Stormont on Monday the Minister said his department’s wildfire action plan would work with landowners in the Mournes and other regions to “reduce the likelihood and impact of wildfires”.

DUP MLA for South Down, Diane Forsythe, told the Assembly: “There’s hardly a year goes past when there’s not some serious incident with wildfires in the Mournes, and it is devastating.”

Ms Forsythe said that when ringing 999 to report a wildfire, callers are asked a lot of potentially technical questions and asked if there is “something in the response plan that will actually feed that back down so that when members of the public just see the fire, we can get someone to be able to explain it  and get connected at an earlier instance?”

Mr Muir replied: “A key element in terms of the wider action plan is in terms of community response, because the community will know the situation on the ground, and collectively, we can be much stronger in terms of how we can turn this around, so I’ll take that back.

“What I would say, and it’s probably something I would share with yourself, is that the weather is starting to improve, and that’s when our worry arises in terms of the risk of wildfires in Northern Ireland.

“I think we’re all united in the message here today is that to urge people to be cautious in the countryside, and for anyone who’s aware of anyone who’s deliberately setting malicious fires, for people to report that through to the police, because that’s harming our environment, but also putting at risk people and their houses and businesses.”

SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone asked if the Minister had considered a “harsher approach to those who are found guilty of engaging in starting these wildfires”.

In his response Mr Muir said the department will review “the effectiveness” of current legislation on enforcement of wildfires in order to “bring cases to trial”.

The Minister also told MLAs that the “issues associated with wildfires in Northern Ireland are not unconnected with the issue of climate change”.

“We’re seeing our weather changing, our patterns changing, and places more susceptible to wildfires, and that’s why we also want to take action in relation to climate change,” he said.

“That’s why we published the climate adaptation plan for Northern Ireland, the first one in the UK, which also involves the non-governmental organisations working with governments.

“So it’s a collective approach but also we need to take action in terms of the Climate Action Plan for Northern Ireland, I think it’s really, really important that we recognise that.”

Later in the session, DUP MLA Phillip Brett referred to infrastructure projects including the A5 road in Co Tyrone and the York Street interchange in north Belfast which he said were “shelved as a result of targets that cannot and will not be met.”

He asked the Minister if he believed that climate change emissions targets “need to be reviewed so that lives are no longer lost in those infrastructure projects and our economy is not any longer damaged?”

Mr Muir said he is “conscious of the benefits of clean local energy for our citizens” and of giving certainty to businesses, adding “it’s important we respect the democratic mandate of this house and we continue to take action in relation to climate change”.

Mr Brett then said “there is no consensus around those target levels”.

“These targets are costing lives, day and daily, and they’re also costing millions of pounds of undelivered projects,” he said.

“When will the Minister wake up to the folly of these targets?”

The Minister replied: “The question back is, when the DUP are going to admit to the folly of the climate change denial in regards to this?

“People are suffering the consequences of Northern Ireland being subject to the fossil fuel roller coaster in terms of the impact in terms of oil and gas prices upon the citizens and businesses of Northern Ireland.

“We need to get off that. We need to take climate action and let people benefit from it.”