Galway Bay fm newsroom - Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Andrew Doyle has visited the site of a major wildfire at Cloosh Valley near Oughterard.
The Minister inspected the extent of damage from the fire which lasted several days and involved the fire services, Air Corps, army, gardaí, Coillte and locals.
It's estimated two and a half thousand hectares of forest and bogland were destroyed in the Cloosh Valley blaze.
Minister Andrew Doyle says to start a fire at this time of year is not only 'illegal' but 'irresponsible'.
He is warning landowners that land found to have been burned during restricted periods would be considered automatically ineligible under various support schemes.
Minister Doyle adds that a variety of detection systems are now being used such as satellite-based equipment.
Meanwhile, Coillte plans to carry out an aerial survey of the Cloosh Valley forest to see how much of the area can be remediated in the years to come.
