Since the beginning of the closed season for burning there have been 57 illegal wildfires across the country. In the past week alone, Gougane Barra and Sheep’s Head in west Cork suffered major wildfires.

Organiser of the protest Vincent Hyland stressed it was not an attack on farmers.

He said: “[We are] not against farming or management of the uplands. It is very much to highlight the fact that illegal burning is dangerous and detrimental to the environment. Illegal land burning is killing the goose that lays the golden egg from the tourism perspective particularly.”

Getting cattle back on the hills for management is vital. That change alone would be a magnificent move

Hyland said the public needs to be more aware of the challenges faced by farmers in the uplands.

“As citizens, we need to understand what is happening in the context of farming in the uplands. There are fewer full-time farmers in the area and the sector is now largely part-time. This results in farmers not having enough time to manage the hills.

“There is a tradition going back here many years of farming in unison with the landscape. Yes, there was burning, but there was also mixed grazing and you had cattle in the uplands. Getting cattle back on the hills for management is vital. That change alone would be a magnificent move.”

Hyland said there was a template in use in the Burren and the Aran islands where ecology and farm productivity are measured and rewarded accordingly.

“Farmers are number one in the context of the landscape that we all love and that’s what Tourism Ireland are selling. They need joined-up thinking with the Department of Agriculture.

“I think farmers should be paid for managing their land from a tourism perspective. Imagine guaranteeing a hill farmer a payment that would help reduce the need for off-farm employment. At the moment they don't get a blind cent from tourism.

“To get young people back farming in areas like this you need to offer incentives. Otherwise we're going to end up with a national park with tour buses going around with a barren landscape.”

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