This month’s meeting of Comeragh Municipal District Council saw a disagreement between councillors and senior officials in the Environment Department of Waterford Council, as some of the elected members called for the Council to take the lead managing the Comeragh mountain following the summer’s wildfires.
Cllr. Liam Brazil made an impassioned appeal to bring back controlled burning and allow the people to manage the land.
“As you know this year, back in July, a huge fire took place on the Comeragh mountains of a Sunday evening, it lasted there for about three weeks. People had to leave their homes with smoke coming from the fire. It all started with somebody walking the hill, probably with a match or the but of a fag,” said Cllr. Brazil.
“I’m saying it years here the Comeragh Mountains are a fire waiting to happen,” he continued.
“The heather on the mountain has gone wild, and in recent times the landowner is not allowed burn on the mountain. The heather had gone so wild now that the sheep are getting bit and dying with these tics that live in the heather.
THREAT TO LIFE
Cllr. Brazil called for the council to take the lead and protect their own environment, wildlife and people. He sees the wildfires, spurred on by uncontrolled growth in unmanaged land, as being a direct threat to life.
“If someone is not going to take the bull by the horns on this and say it’s time to stop and do something about it, we’re going to have death—and it will be persons. Because if that fire on the mountain on the Sunday evening, if the wind had not changed, the fire would not have stopped until it got to Clonmel.
“Livestock, wildlife and humans would probably be burned in that fire. And if that happens everybody will be jumping up and down and saying why did this happen? Why did we leave it happen? Why didn’t somebody say stop and do something about it?
“Now is the time to do that before it happens again,” Cllr. Brazil said.
“In the olden days the landowner went up the mountain he burned a blanket up to the middle of the mountain and he burned into that blanket probably every second year.”
Cllr. Brazil went on to explain that this controlled burning ceased due to changes legislation, which he said needs to be changed back, and suggested Waterford must lead the way in Ireland.
“Here in Waterford we should pilot something, we should be the one that goes out and says we should do something about this before somebody gets burned and there is a fatality.
“If we had controlled burning over a 10 year period the land would be burned and the wildlife would be saved. We have to talk to the Department.”
COUNCIL DISAGREES
Senior Executive for the Environment Department in Waterford Council, Dawn Wallace, said this was not a Council issue, and could only direct the issue to the National Parks and Wildlife service.
Cllr. Brazil, with the support of Cllr. Catherine Burke, pushed back against this and insisted that Waterford has an obligation and a right to prioritise their own wildlife and natural resources.
“But if these people cannot be contactable, how is the ordinary general person going to get information?” asked Cllr. Brazil. “I’m raising this issue to see what we can do to protect our beautiful mountains and for the Council to try and talk to the Irish park and wildlife.
“Coming from the Council it will bring a bit of strength behind them. Coming from the ordinary people it doesn’t carry any water as far as Parks and Wildlife are concerned because if it did they would be coming back to us,” he said.
“I don’t accept it for one moment and I’m not going to sit here and listen to what they did say about this … now is the time to act and I want the Council to act on this.”
Councillor Burke agreed, saying Waterford Council cannot delegate responsibility to a national group when there are fires happening in the county affecting the people who live, work, and farm in Waterford.
In reply, Senior Executive Ms. Wallace would not commit to contacting the Parks and Wildlife Service. It seems she may fundamentally disagree with Cllr. Brazil’s proposal to bring back controlled burning. She asked for time to consider the matter but suggested the Council may not be in favour of the practice overall.
“I would like to go away and take some time to think about whether that is the Council’s decision, whether we would want to do controlled burning. I don’t know that it is our place to say that. I think we would need to engage with our advisors on that too,” Ms. Wallace added.
AARON KENT Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
