Gardai in Galway have dismissed reports that they are hunting for an arsonist suspected of deliberately setting fire to hundreds of acres of gorse in Connemara over the past few days.
In response to reports in a national paper, a spokesperson for Galway Garda station confirmed that there had been gorse fires over vast areas of mountainside near Roundstone in Connemara but that no complaint has been made and that gardai have not launched an official investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, local residents across southwest Connemara expressed concern this week that several large gorse fires which raged over three days came very close to posing a real risk to homes, businesses, and farms.
The fine dry weather added to the ferocity of the fires which required the attention of the council fire services
