Derryard residents and farmers in West Clare areas who were badly affected by a huge gorse fire two weeks ago which was hindered by hundreds of tyres dumped in the area, have refuted Clare County Council’s version of events.
A spokesperson for the Council’s Environment Section told The Clare Champion last week they only became aware of the dumping of alleged household waste and tyres at the location of the fire when the fire service attended to the incident.
One resident, Tony Henchy who had highlighted the tyre burning as contributing to the severity of the fire said the statement the Council provided is “not accurate” saying residents have evidence the council was aware of the tyres being drawn by tractor, and laid on a plot of bog.
He claimed he was present with one of the wardens from the local authority took photos of the offending tyres in late 2022.
According to Mr Henchy, he met the warden at Spanish Point on December 7, 2022 where he was shown a map of the bog.
Mr Henchy also claims that there have been other wardens involved with the issue.
“All those do their job well, but no action at headquarters,” he said.
Clare County Council’s Environment Section also confirmed that their warden has visited the location “to determine if any evidence can be recovered and used for enforcement purposes”.
The council, as part of its statement did however note that household rubbish scattered and dumped in the area “may have contributed to the fire”.
The gorse fire which also affected Shragh and Tullaher, and raged for two entire days and smouldered for five.
Fires crews from Kilkee and Kilrush dealt with the wildland fires in West Clare bringing the blaze under control after two days. They were ably assisted in their fire fighting by a number of local residents.
The fire consumed an estimated 300 acres of land however, the Fire Service in dealing with the fire successfully stopped it from spreading to properties and to mature forestry.
However, the feeling locally is that the rubbish and in particular, dumped tyres exasperated the situation by releasing a significant amount of black smoke which blew over households in the area.
And the community hopes the fire will be investigated, and the plots where tyres and rubbish have been burning, will ultimately be cleaned up by the Council.
The tyres were reportedly dumped by an individual, who cannot be named for legal reasons, some years ago, and are contained in a sort of roadway of 300m to 400m in length.
Mr Henchy also confirmed a local county councillor made representations on behalf of residents, and a couple of wardens came out separately to view the dumping,but no action was taken by the local authority.
John McMahon who farms in the area said the statement is “totally inaccurate” saying he can recall the names of five different officers or wardens who were sent out to the area on different occasions over the years.
In his opinion, the problem started before the Covid pandemic, and little has been done over the years to remedy it.
Whilst tyres have not been a problem for him, he can recall stuff like household rubbish dumped on his land on two different occasions.
As far as the council is concerned, the removal of rubbish that has been fly-tipped onto private land, is the landowner’s responsibility, he says.
Nonetheless, he contacted a local councillor at the time with his concerns, and he subsequently arranged for a warden to be sent out.
The warden who came out prior to the local elections in 2024 and took some photos of the rubbish.
Another warden in a council van who attended on a different occasion offered to remove the rubbish and dispose of it afterwards, if he cleared it up first.
“Twas a dirty looking sight. I can’t say with proof that I know the culprit, but it is someone with an agenda,” he said.
“There is a lot of stuff dumped at Derryard, into the water course and at the side of the road.”
A spokesperson for Clare County Council said they have determined the location of the tyres and will investigate the issue.
“There were a number of townlands referred to in the original media query, namely Shragh to Derryard and Tullaher, which cover an extensive area,” said the spokesperson.
“The specific location and extent of the gorse fire was not noted in the media query, so it was not clear where exactly the tyres were located that were uncovered during the course of extinguishing the fire.
We have now established the exact location of the tyres in conjunction with the Fire Service and we will investigate any issue of alleged illegal dumping.”
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.