GOVERNMENT MINISTERS WILL be presented with a proposal to introduce new legislation for national parks this morning, which will include “significant” fines for people who light barbecues in them.

The minister for nature, heritage and biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan, said the bill would define national parks in law and set out how they should be managed. 

“Especially relevant in the context of recent headlines, the Bill will confer powers to make bylaws,” his department said. 

“This will strengthen the enforcement powers of rangers and give them the ability to impose on the spot fines for certain activities,” including lighting barbecues, which is already prohibited, the department said. 

A wildfire that broke out in the Five Mile Bridge area of Killarney National Park valerie O Sullivan valerie O Sullivan

The move comes in light of a number of large fires around the country during the current hot spell, including a large blaze in Killarney National Park in mid-July. 

That fire burned through around 22 hectares and was the result of human activity, according to O’Sullivan, who called it “devastating”. 

At the time, he said lighting fires or using disposable barbecues in a national park or any wild area goes beyond carelessness and called it “gross irresponsibility – especially during a heatwave”.

“It is a crime against nature, against local communities and against future generations who have the right to inherit these precious landscapes intact.”

The current dry period brought on by recent high temperatures is showing no signs of letting up this week and Uisce Éireann said today that a water conservation order (hosepipe ban) would be extended from five counties to the entire country from Friday.