Member's statement: Mourne Mountains: Fires
Member's statement by Mrs Sinéad Ennis on .
- MLA
- Mrs Sinéad Ennis
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 7 April 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Mourne Mountains: Fires
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4890248
Read the official Assembly record
Text
In April 2021, we all watched in horror as fire tore through the Mournes. We were promised swift action then. We were promised a comprehensive fire prevention and management plan to ensure that such devastation could never happen again, but here we are: it has happened again. As I stand here, the mountains are ablaze. Massive damage has been caused by a 2 mile-wide fire front. The risk to life and property has been severe, with terrified people moved from their homes in the middle of the night. What people want to know is this: where is the plan? Four years on, we still do not have the robust strategy that was pledged. The communities around the Mournes, the groups that work daily to protect and conserve the Mournes, those whose livelihoods depends on the mountains and those whose homes and lives were put at risk at the weekend deserve leadership and action. I pay tribute to and thank the heroic Fire and Rescue Service, which has been battling to control fires in the Mournes not just at the weekend but over recent weeks. While we wait for a plan, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs continues to allow controlled burning in the Mournes and across the North right up until 14 April. The emergency is not over. The mountains are burning. Controlled burns are anything but controlled. The regulations, safeguards and enforcement mechanisms are clearly not working. How many more fires will there be? How much more damage? How much longer do we have to wait? I call on the Minister to review urgently the current burn period and to deliver on the promise of a fire prevention and management plan for the Mournes. It is not just about protecting our natural heritage but about safeguarding communities, about biodiversity and about the future of our environment. The Mournes are burning as I speak, and we can wait no longer for somebody to start doing something about it.
330 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.94).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:17 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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