Department will come down like ton of bricks on farmers illegally burning

The Minister for Agriculture says his department comes down like a ton of bricks on any farmer found to be responsible for illegal burning.

Charlie McConalogue says it was heart-breaking to see the recent fires in Killarney National Park and he paid tribute to the hard work of the fire service.

Investigations into the cause of the fires are ongoing.

Minister McConalogue says his department takes a zero-tolerance approach to the matter and uses satellite inspections to detect if land has been burned illegally.

He says illegally burned land is deemed ineligible for farm payments and farmers understand that: