Member's statement: Wildfires: Mourne Mountains

Member's statement by Mr Andrew McMurray on 5 May 2026.

MLA: Mr Andrew McMurray
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 5 May 2026
Type: Member's statement
Business: Members' Statements
Heading: Wildfires: Mourne Mountains
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5524322

Text

Last week, I attended an event titled 'The Mournes: Building a Sustainable Future' that looked at how uplands and the regional asset that is the Mournes can be looked after and at the agencies that do so. It was impossible for me not to reflect on the recent wildfires — the landscape arson — that continued up until the end of last week. We were thankful for the rains that came. It is hard to convey the amount of damage that is being done to our upland areas. In a fire in 2021, over 90% of the invertebrates on Slieve Donard were lost. Five years later, 90% of the invertebrates on that hillside are still lost. The effect that that has had on the wildlife and ecosystems in our upland areas is hard to quantify. There may be a small positive. I was sent a video of the rare common lizard, but how will that little lizard — such a rare example of wildlife — survive in our upland areas following the removal of so many invertebrates? When the fires have burnt out, the land may flash up green after a few weeks and people will say, "It's not so bad looking any more. It's all nice and green", but it is just more flammable and combustible material, which makes it even more likely that, when they happen again, the wildfires will race through the land. The fires are deliberate actions. Whether it is somebody deliberately setting a fire or somebody lighting a barbecue or a cigarette, after which negligence takes over, such fires all start with a deliberate action. If we want to see change and prevent such incidents, we must do all that we can to report anything suspicious. Only then will we be able to build a picture of what is happening. The objectives of the wildfires action plan from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and Minister Muir are prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and enforcement. Only when those objectives are enacted and given time will we really see a difference in our upland landscape.

350 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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 (0.76).
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

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
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	0.76	Yes
Overall judgement	0.03	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
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 area (top five)
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 15:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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