Ireland’s laws around lighting fires in the countryside are dangerously behind the times, according to a leading ecologist who says the legislation hasn’t kept pace with the growing threat of wildfires.
Pádraic Fogarty, ecologist and author, has come out swinging at the current legal framework, saying it is stuck roughly 30 years in the past and simply not fit for purpose in today’s climate reality.
The core of the problem is that Irish law still permits burning on certain land types during specific periods, a system designed for a different era when the risks were far less understood and climate conditions were far more predictable. That predictability is now gone.
Ireland has seen a notable increase in dry spells and elevated temperatures in recent years, conditions that turn scrubland, bog and upland areas into tinderboxes. What was once considered a manageable and even traditional land practice has become something far more dangerous in the context of a warming climate.
Fogarty argues that the legislation governing when and where fires can be lit needs a serious overhaul. The current rules, he says, do not reflect the scientific understanding we now have about how quickly fires can spread, the damage they cause to fragile ecosystems, and the long-term impact on biodiversity and carbon-storing habitats like peatlands.
Bogs and upland heaths are particularly vulnerable. These habitats take centuries to develop and can be wiped out in a matter of hours by an uncontrolled fire. Beyond the ecological damage, burning these areas also releases significant amounts of stored carbon, making it a climate issue as much as an environmental one.
The use of fire for land clearance and management is deeply embedded in rural Irish tradition. Farmers and landowners have long used burning to clear old vegetation and encourage fresh growth for grazing. That practice is not something that can simply be banned overnight without pushback, and Fogarty is not necessarily calling for an outright prohibition. What he is calling for is a modern, evidence-based legal framework that takes real-world conditions into account.
The current closed season for burning in Ireland runs from March 1st to August 31st, meaning fires can legally be set outside those months. Critics say this seasonal window no longer makes sense given how variable Irish weather has become. A dry spell in February or late autumn can create just as much fire risk as the summer months, yet the law does not account for that flexibility.
There is also the question of enforcement. Even during the closed season, illegal burning remains a persistent issue. Fires are set on hillsides and boglands across the country every spring, often causing serious damage to wildlife habitats and occasionally threatening homes and infrastructure. The penalties for illegal burning exist on paper but are rarely applied in any meaningful way.
Fogarty’s comments come against a backdrop of growing concern among environmentalists and scientists about the state of Ireland’s natural habitats. Ireland is already one of the least biodiverse countries in Europe, with vast swathes of its bogland drained or damaged over the past century. Fires, whether legal or not, add further pressure to ecosystems that are already struggling.
The call for reform is not new, but it has gained fresh urgency as extreme weather events become more frequent. Other European countries have moved to tighten their wildfire legislation in response to devastating fires in recent years, and campaigners say Ireland needs to follow suit before a major disaster forces the issue.
For now, the gap between what the law allows and what the science recommends remains wide. Fogarty and others in the environmental community are pushing for that gap to close, and sooner rather than later.