Gougane Barra last night
A gorse fire burning in the Gougane Barra valley, Ballingeary, west Cork since the weekend was under control this morning.
Unfavourable weather conditions or something more sinister?
Via The Skibereeen Eagle:
Let us stop the mealy mouthed description of these fires as “outbreaks” or somehow caused by walkers and hikers. The scale clearly shows that they are deliberately caused by landowners clearing gorse from upland pastures.
They know what they are doing is wrong which is why they set these fires at weekends and towards the evening when they feel there is less chance of being observed or Garda or other authorities being around.
They are prepared to risk fires getting out of control with the consequences or public amenity, environment, wildlife and potentially humans.
So let every member of local authorities and Gardai head out to Gougane Barra and see this historic site and he destination of numerous walking trails as it is now.
Scarred, blackened devastated and littered with the charred corpses of Sheep and Lambs – a monument to human stupidity and selfish people who do not care about the consequences of their actions.
Anyone?
Arson Around West Cork (The Skibereeen Eagle)
Meanwhile…
@HHumphreysFG Gougane Barra happened on your watch. Your policies encourage criminal acts against #Ireland‘s ecology & culture #gouganebarra pic.twitter.com/IQ8orylj7M
— GorseFires Collectif (@GorseFires) April 25, 2017
Completely agree with the first bit. Certain farmers seem to think they can do anything without consequence. The second one then completely goes against that, letting them off free in a grasping attempt to blame the government. Well done Bodger.
they’re greedy. same people who support killing any native animals that interferes with profits.
this ^^
+1. They also know that they can do this kind of thing because nobody is ever held accountable for their actions in Ireland.
Just search the land registry for the area and see what farms are in the vicinity.
Nearest farmer is usually the culprit.
Besides, most the landowners in Ireland are descendent from Scots planters.
Oliver’s army is here to stay.
great song that
You mean “We Didn’t Start the Fire”?
“Besides, most the landowners in Ireland are descendent from Scots planters.”
– no they aren’t
They’re all descended from Planter’s Peanuts.
+1
Sir Henry needs a history lesson!
There was a fairly significant land redistribution
I’d love to pretend I care but find it impossible to. A rare event of a few bushes on fire on some hill in the south west of Ireland. I think life will go on with little impact from this.
It’s nowhere near as rare as you imply, and it takes valuable resources to fight these fires, often volunteer firemen putting themselves in harm’s way, and certainly wasting their time and resources, nor do i think we can be cavalier about the ecological devastation.
A colleagues brother works for the fire service and he describes as horrific the wildlife they find literally burned to death from gorse fires like this.
It’s barbaric.
I’m glad people are gathering to protest this behaviour.
I have a relative who has to put up with this colossal stupidity every year. Not a small deal.
That ain’t nothin. You should have been to Nam cupcakes
You’d care if it was 40 feet away from your back door: my mate’s sister spent Easter weekend fighting a fire that nearly surrounded them.
If this is a regular crime then yiz need to catch the farmers in the act. Without proof it’s merely an “Old Grey Whistle Theft”.
There’s a protest against illegal burning in Kenmare on Saturday:
https://twitter.com/WildDerrynane/status/856624448941813762
The IFA won’t like that! They’ll probably stage a counterprotest to protest that people are protesting agin them!
That farmer on the RTE News last night though. ”Tis de young lads dat does be lightin de fires and dey run off an den it’s de poor farmers get blempt’
If there isn’t a grant to cover it, farmers won’t do it legally and properly. They’ll always find the cheap and shneakey way of doing it and blame someone else.
What’s with all the farmer hatred Daisy?
Well they *did* enable the Catholic Church to bury scores of Irish children in septic tanks, in fairness.
just the farmers?
Well the Catholic church did the actual burying of children in septic tanks but we shouldn’t be blaming them, of course.
why not?
Because they were enabled by society. It’s society’s fault. (That was your line, wasn’t it?)
Oh society was certainly culpable for it was in that society where it happened, if we fail to recognise that we may be doomed to repeat it again.
But society’s change thankfully. That doesn’t take away from the church’s culpability.
So we should blame factory workers who work 12 hours a day for Kim Jong Un, right? Never mind the manipulation of society by intimidation and control of information, ordinary North Koreans must shoulder blame for the death camps and nuclear threats.
are you equating the north korean regime with a Democracy?
I’m equating one society living under an oppressive regime with another society that lived/lives under an oppressive regime. Is this your way of saying your argument about a culpable society was BS you made up as a reason to defend the powerful from blame for their actions?
20 years in Dept of Ag, 5 years in SW means testing for schemes, dealing with them and their shneaky, scammin, ignorant ways. Run ins with IFA protest thugs assaulting and intimidating staff (No sign of them being arrested and charged with “false imprisonment though!)
“No sign of them being arrested and charged with “false imprisonment though!”
I hope you’re not accusing our Dear Leaders of underhandedness.
Did they record lots of Youtube footage to help the authorities in their inquiries like the Jobstown lads?
Also – was what happened to your colleagues unpleasant/intimidating/etc? If it was, that was wrong; surely then it is also wrong to do similar to someone else in another circumstance?
sounds like you’ve had a lot a bad experiences to be sure. it’s always a shame when bad apples manage to tarnish a demographic
Rob_G, 2 were physically assaulted, with one having to be hospitalised. When the Gardai were called, because it was a public office, the guards said they couldn’t eject them. When staff were leaving at lunchtime and close of business, we had to walk through a gang of protesters at the main door inside and out with airhorns blown at us. Nasty and unnecessary. The guards hung around til 5pm and once they were gone the public toilets were locked. A few diehards stayed til around midnight and the smell of stale smoke the next day was rank.
If it wasn’t for social media, the initial lies about the protest by the IFA would have gone unchallenged. We don’t have access online, but staff had their own phones and went online to challenge their account.
http://www.thejournal.ie/department-staff-member-hospitalised-after-protest-in-wexford-250443-Oct2011/
Our senior staff asked us not to film them so we didn’t, but they filmed us.
I’m very sorry to hear that your colleagues went through that experience (I have also had farmers protesting outside my office, and it can be a bit intimidating).
– do you get the point that I am making? It’s was wrong for your colleagues to have to endure that for just doing their jobs; similarly, it would be wrong to subject to any civil servant to that type of treatment.
You’re not understanding what she’s saying there actually. Nobody is saying that would have been a pleasant experience. She’s noting, and you have confirmed, that farmers have engaged in that behaviour quite a bit and none of them were subjected to dawn raids and trials for false imprisonment.
*whoosh*
Exactly.
it’s the same mentality that has them poising birds of prey that are being reintroduced into the country.
When farmers could be guardians of the countryside, they instead pollute our rivers and lakes, kill wildlife, destroy scenic amenities and even put human life at risk. Their primary business, of course, is to produce grants.
Someone has to do it since Peggy Mitchell died.
+ all the Duff Duffs!
bingo
Does anyone have a link to a non Twitter of those images. Cottage in foreground fire behind.I block Face,Twitter,Snap etc.. Cheers thanks.
Sure don’t they get paid grants for land that’s not used as its not deemed to be great land?
Cant remember the name of the type of land.
Huge proportion of land is categorized as it
Marginal land. That’s it. Only took me 30 or so minutes.
This happens every year around where I live. It is a mindless and reckless habit engrained in older farmers (or stupid young farmers). Their grants can be cut if they are caught but the chances of being caught are very low.
What is distracting me is the wonderful fact that there is a twitter account that is dedicated to Russian interference in Ukraine and to Gorse fires in Ireland.
We may see the Azov Battalion deployed in West Cork yet.
they could do with their Water Cannons anyway
Free BBQ.
Billy Joel certainly seems very defensive, when it comes to this sort of thing. Not pointing the finger or anything, just saying.