Ms Forsythe asked the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to outline what action he has taken in response to the recent fires across the Mourne Mountains area, which escalated to a major incident's being declared at the weekend.

First, I offer my sympathy to all those who have been affected by the terrible fires over the past few days and pay tribute and express thanks to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) for all the work that it is doing to keep people safe.

Tackling and preventing wildfires requires close working by the relevant agencies, as well as public awareness and vigilance. Two weeks ago, my Department issued a press release, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the police, highlighting the risk of wildfires over the coming months and providing advice on how to help to prevent them. Prior to the wildfires over the past weekend, my officials issued an updated natural hazards partnership amber wildfire warning to key stakeholders in order to enable increased vigilance over the weekend. However, some of the recent fires, which were started after dark and are very difficult to catch, are, unfortunately, still happening. The dry, warm and often breezy weather is leading to conditions for wildfires, and they are severe.

As part of my Department's preparation for the current wildfire season, it deployed specialist wildfire ATVs with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. The vehicles are located across Northern Ireland in areas that the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service deems to be at the greatest risk of wildfires. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency's (NIEA) wildfire officer was also in attendance over the weekend, and I want to thank him and so many other officials in my Department. He remains on call to assist the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service should it be required. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency's specialist wildfire all-terrain vehicles also remain available for use by the emergency services, and all three of those were deployed by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service over the weekend at Rostrevor, and one was used at Ben Crom.

My Department continues to support wildfire prevention work, particularly the continued implementation of the eastern Mournes wildfire project and the management of strategic wildfire control points in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the Mourne Heritage Trust. In essence, those points include a number that are mostly within the Mourne walls and at which vegetation is kept purposefully short to slow the rate of spread of wildfires in order to allow the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service extra time to deploy appropriate personnel. Further work was planned to review and develop a wider wildfire plan for the Mournes, but unfortunately no applications were received for an associated tender that was issued in January. Officials are reviewing why no applications were received, with the intention of revising the tender and issuing a new tender for the work to commence as soon as possible. I have asked officials to expedite the strategic way forward for wildfires in Northern Ireland so that I can urgently bring it to the Executive.

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber on this devastating issue, and I join him in expressing thanks to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, our police, the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team, the Mourne Heritage Trust and others as they worked together. Over recent weeks, there have been a number of fires, and the escalation at the weekend to a major incident's being declared is incredibly concerning. My phone has not stopped from hearing about Hilltown on Saturday night, and I woke up to hear about Silent Valley and Ben Crom yesterday and heard about Slieve Donard last night. It has not stopped today, as Slieve Bearnagh and Doan are currently blazing. I welcome the progress on all the strategies, Minister, but I ask you to take urgent action, because our mountains are on fire. I will go home to that again this evening. The people who have been in touch with me today are extremely stressed. Do you support the calls for helicopter support and further support being given to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service to deal with the fire as it continues to blaze?

Thank you, Diane. Yesterday and today, I spoke to the Health Minister, who has overall responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Service, and we will remain in close liaison. I will take the points that you raised to Mike, the Health Minister.

All of us in the Chamber and in society have a role to play in this matter. If we are aware of anyone or have any information whatsoever about the deliberate and malicious setting of the fires, we owe it to ourselves, to wider society and to the environment to report it to the police or, if we do not feel capable of doing that, to Crimestoppers. I know that that may be difficult, because we may be reporting a neighbour, but we need to bring the culprits to justice.

I appreciate the Minister's being here to respond on this important matter. Will the Minister review the DAERA regulations on the burn period, which allow burning in the countryside up to 14 April, given that we are in bird-nesting season, with many birds nesting in the Mournes, and that the existing regulations, procedures and safeguards are clearly ineffective?

Thank you for that important question. It is important that I say that anyone who deliberately and maliciously lights fires in the countryside should be held to account. I am blind to the culprits, but I am also aware of the concerns about the burn period. Today, I urge everyone to refrain from using the last week of the period for prescribed burning in Northern Ireland. I know that there is a week left, but I ask people to draw it to a halt today because of the significant impact that these incidents are having on the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and its resources and on the risk to lives, livelihoods and our environment.

I hope to bring a strategic way forward on wildfires to the Executive very soon. In that, I will request that we consult on a different approach to burn periods in Northern Ireland. I am very conscious of the situation in the South, where it ends six weeks earlier than it does here. We need to consider that, and, alongside that, we need to look at better upland management for Northern Ireland. We have to change what we are doing here. I know that that will be difficult for people, but we cannot continue in the current way.

I echo the remarks that were made about the work of the Fire and Rescue Service over the weekend. It was absolutely pushed to its limits and did a sterling job to try to help our natural environment.

Four years ago, we had a serious issue, and one of the only things faster than the Fire and Rescue Service was the Sinn Féin Finance Minister and the Sinn Féin MP for the area calling for all sorts, from an innovation hub, to a fire management plan, a strategic wildfire group and a wildfire stakeholder forum. Does the Minister feel that he has enough money to deliver the interventions that are required so that this does not become an annual event for us?

Finances are always a challenge for my Department. The Fiscal Council set that out with regard to the budgetary settlement for my Department.

I say one thing about this: we are facing a very serious situation. I worry that, if these fires do not stop, lives will be lost. There is a tendency in this place to divert to blame games and finger-pointing. That does not resolve any of this. I am working in my Department and with the Health Minister. There is a cross-departmental, statutory, joined-up approach to this. I praise the work undertaken by the Fire and Rescue Service, the police, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, the Mourne Heritage Trust and so many people who come together in relation to this. To be honest, I dread to think what would be happening if that preparedness and prompt response had not been in place. I am now receiving reports of another fire having broken out in the Mournes. It is important that I say to everyone across Northern Ireland, "Knock it on the head. Stop these fires."

I associate myself with some of the comments already made, especially in paying tribute to and giving thanks for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, all the associated agencies involved and individuals. I also echo what the Minister has said. I have worked in the Mournes and been there, and I know that it is just a matter of time before loss of life happens. Some 53 weeks ago, I was camping in the forest just across the road from where the Hilltown fire was. I dread to think what could have happened, given how these fires spread. They are not wildfires, they are fires.

Can we have a question?

Will the Minister come to South Down and meet residents to discuss the impact of these fires?

Thank you, Andy, for your question. I will answer in two parts. Let us call this what it is: rural arson. If it does not stop, we will have homes burnt down, people killed and serious environmental consequences beyond those that we have seen in recent days and weeks. The situation that is unfolding is really concerning.

I am happy to meet residents. I plan to go to the area this evening. As a result of the evolving situation, I will not go anywhere near the wildfires, because it is important that I do not divert resources away from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. Therefore, I will keep well away from the scene, and I encourage others to do likewise, because we need to let the Fire and Rescue Service get on with the job. I will meet residents much further away from the scene. It is important to give thanks to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and let it get on with the job, which is extremely challenging.

We all, across the House, share the sense of concern about the fires in the Mournes. The Mournes is a place of natural beauty, which many constituents and, indeed, Members, enjoy on a regular basis. I commend the Minister on the cross-departmental aspect of his response. However, the Minister knows that adequate management of the countryside in relation to the Mournes is required, particularly from farmers. There are those who have lived in that environment for their entire lives who, whether though burning or management of the land, responsibly and successfully look after and manage it. I ask the Minister whether these fires are arson, as in careless behaviour from those who go to the Mournes, or is the Minister concerned about the farmers themselves? I am just fearful that sometimes the message can become mixed, affecting who will be blamed.

I do not want to get involved in any particular blame game. The only way that we can go forward and know the exact cause of this is when we get people in front of a court. Regardless of who is responsible for this, if anyone knows any information, they should lift the phone and ring the police or Crimestoppers. For people's actions in the countryside, there is guidance as to what you should and should not do there. I will make it simple: do not light any fires. Stop them today.

Of course, my party associates itself with the good work of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. What is the Minister doing to ensure that farmers who are affected by the fires are being supported, particularly as the situation seems to recur?

We are doing all we can.

[Inaudible.]

I hear Mr Buckley chuntering from a sedentary position. The situation in the countryside is really serious. The impact on Fire and Rescue Service personnel and resources is significant. I will be clear: the situation that is unfolding is really quite concerning. I say to people that it is important that we do all that we can to ensure that we do not have any more incidents in our countryside.

I am doing all that I can to support the people who are affected by this. We do a lot of engagement with non-governmental organisations, which we also fund. The Mourne Heritage Trust is an example of that, as we give it grant support. I will be meeting it this evening because it plays a critical role, and we will continue to support it. I thank everyone who is working on the issue.

Minister, your task is to answer questions, and my task is to step in when Members overstep the mark.

I turn to the practicalities of tackling the fires in situ. The fires, which are often started by humans, whatever the means, destroy our natural environment. What difference has been made by the specialist equipment deployed by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in tackling the fires?

The Northern Ireland Environment Agency has specialist ATVs that have been upgraded with additional equipment, including a portable pump. Those vehicles are pre-positioned at the following locations, or rather, this is where they are meant to be, as they are probably out and about at present: Ballycastle, Coleraine and Omagh fire stations and Sprucefield police station. Their deployment has proved to be invaluable, especially to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, and I thank the Northern Ireland Environment Agency for its planning and for the deployment of the vehicles.

In the past week, there have been fires other than those in the Mournes. In south Armagh, there were fires in Fathom and in Dromintee. About five years ago, there was a serious forest fire on Slieve Gullion. The Irish Air Corps was engaged to pick up water from Camlough lake and drop deluges on the fire, helping to quell the flames effectively. Has the Minister been in contact with the Irish Air Corps about the Mournes fire?

I thank the Member. He rightly points out that the fires are not just in the Mournes. There have also been fires in Donegal, for example, and in Galloway in Scotland, so the issue goes beyond Northern Ireland. I will pick up the Member's point and raise it with the Health Minister. I am answering questions as Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, but we need to work together, and I will speak to the Minister of Health because he has responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Service.

In my constituency, we sometimes have fires on the Cave Hill that cause damage to a much lesser extent; I cannot imagine the damage that is caused by the fires in the Mournes. When can an assessment of the environmental damage take place? Where the fires have gone out, has that already been done?

We will do that in the fullness of time. In many cases, the fires are in designated sites. They are jewels in the crown of our nature and biodiversity, and they are being destroyed. That is the real worry for me: it is not just about the risk to lives and livelihoods and to farms and houses but about the implications for our environment. In due course, we will calculate the impact on our environment.

It does not need to be like this. We need to get control of it, and I am really worried by the weather forecast for the days ahead.

That concludes the question for urgent oral answer.