The fires of April have been heart breaking to watch. There is however an integral connection with the policies that causes these fires and those that destroy our rivers. They are 2 sides of the same coin, the blank they inhabit is livestock agriculture.

Firstly, farmers are not to blame, they are merely following policy on which their often subsistence income supplement is based. This is the single farm payment.

it sets out, what constitutes as eligible land or not, which effects what the farmer gets.
Like this tall, woody, flammable heather.

This is eligible, but borderline as there is some grass evident, but there is an implied instruction to do something about it.

In a few short months, a farmer could lose valuable income if it goes from the above to the below. Better not take the chance

There is a zero tolerance in the guidelines for anything on farms, commonage, wetlands or bogs for anything other edible grass for livestock, as the following process shows, pockets of wildlife habitat are penalised

The most vital habitats of all, wetlands are not safe either. The implied instruction here is to drain and turn it into 'productive' grassland.

The document does address burning, the caveat here is that land is ineligible after being burned. What a farmer will understand from this is to leave burning as late as possible in the spring to encourage new growth in the coming growing season.

Since 2009, the document also incentivises the removal of hedgerows by classifying the area where they stand as eligible, after they have been removed. Drains too, once covered are eligible.
It is no co-incidence that a growing number of bird species are threatened since then.

It also gives further examples of what is eligible; a monoculture of grasses.

But, what has this to do with the OPW flood relief schemes, and the destruction of our rivers? We're getting there.
The purpose of the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945 is primarily to drain land for agriculture. Even though flood relief is not about that under the Floods Directive..

in fact, it is diametrically opposed to the principles of the Floods Directive, but was lazily tacked onto the SI which enacted the Floods Directive, which continues to perpetrate severe damage to our rivers by canalising them as viewing them only as drainage channels

This is not the fault of BBQs and camp fires, not even farmers. It is the fault of a system that is pushing land way beyond it's sustainable capacity to produce food. As the outsized carbon footprint of our agriculture sector shows, the only way is back, starting with land mgt

Lastly, if we want change, we need to wisely choose the policies and people who will make a difference.
The time for looking on, expecting someone else to sort this out is over.
20th century thinking will not solve todays or tomorrow's problems.
Thank you for reading this thru