Retailers are being asked to suspend the sale of disposable barbecue for the duration of the Status Orange wildfire warning.
The Department of Enterprise has agreed the move with the National Parks and Wildlife Service following a request from the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management.
Government sources say correspondence will be issued to retailers across the country recommending they cease selling disposable barbecues for now.
This recommendation is not legally binding.
The Department of Enterprise will liaise with its Retail Forum to communicate with as many businesses as possible.
A wildfire that broke out in the Five Mile Bridge area of Killarney National Park is thought to have been caused by a disposable barbecue (Image: NPWS)
It is believed disposable barbecue items are behind the recent wildfire in Killarney and are proving a fire hazard in parks more generally in the current conditions.
A Status Orange High Forest Fire Risk Warning is in place nationally until 12pm on Friday 17 July – however this may be extended.
The National Severe Weather and Flood Coordination Group and the Department of Agriculture will continue to monitor the situation with Met Éireann still forecasting temperatures as high as 24C on Sunday.
Our Political Correspondent Barry Lenihan has the latest
Separately, the Cabinet will next week discuss proposals for an outright ban on disposable barbecues across Ireland’s national parks.
Heads of bill are being drafted by the Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan.
Read more:
Killarney fire thought to have been started by disposable barbecue
30C expected as heat warning in place for most of country
‘Recklessness’
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, Independent TD for Kerry Michael Healy-Rae condemned the use of disposable barbecues which are banned in the national park.
“Lighting a BBQ in an area like this where the ground is like paper, it’s like dried out paper now at the moment, one spark and the people there wouldn’t even be able to contain it and it would just take off,” he said.
“I don’t ever believe in a situation like this that the people were bad people, but I do believe they were possibly and potentially stupid people, because they should have known better,” he said.
He said he thought people should be prosecuted where a fire is caused through recklessness.
“But we must now send out a message. The rules are there, the regulations are there, and if people need to be prosecuted for doing something like this, of course they should, because the overwhelming majority of people respect our countryside but unfortunately it only takes one careless person to cause enormous damage,” he said.