内容摘要："NI Water is now preparing a business case and repairs may be included in the 2025/2026 Capital Delivery Programme subject to funding approval.

"NI Water is now preparing a business case and repairs may be included in the 2025/2026 Capital Delivery Programme subject to funding approval.

"It's a beautiful area. People love it; and you have homes, you have farms, rural life going on."As a special protection area and special area of conservation, Slieve Beagh is home to the endangered hen harrier and intact blanket bog habitat.

Gildernew said wildlife and the habitat will be affected."There are birds nesting in the ground - it's going to take years for the area to come back to where it should be - or where it was at."I have seen the devastation from the fire myself and it's about a third of the Slieve Beagh area."

"This would be a big tourism area. There are lots of local businesses, but tourism would be a big thing," she added."The funding is to increase and improve tourism in the area, so that will have an impact on that - we will have to look at that."

Birdlife and vegetation will take time to recover, she added.

"This is a cross-border fire, and I know on the Monaghan side there have been frantic attempts to move machinery out of the way."It was the latest in a series of closures between the two junctions as part of a severely delayed £317m project to add extra lanes.

Work began in 2022 but was pushed back due to bad weather, National Highways previously said. It is now scheduled to end in spring 2026.Mr Wade said they managed to "squeeze in" lots of other jobs this weekend, including removing signs from the gantry and landscaping.

The same stretch of road will be closed again from 21 to 24 March to allow workers to demolish a second bridge.Mr Wade said: "The second one is a little bit more tricky because it's very close to one of the new bridges, but there were lessons learned over the weekend, so we're looking forward to doing that.