BONFIRES in the north may have to be licensed, environment minister Mark H Durkan said.
The SDLP minister told the assembly on Tuesday that many large bonfires are breaking the law.
He said major problems included sectarian effigies which do "nothing to promote good community relations" and bonfires set up close to people's homes.
"It is likely that none of the major bonfires complies fully with the requirements of existing legislation," he said.
Mr Durkan said officials in his department are considering how bonfires can be better managed and controlled.
"It is my intention to bring those options to the Environment Committee in the near future for discussion and consultation on the way forward and then take a paper to the Executive," he said.
He told the BBC yesterday that he wanted bonfires to be banned but accepted that some communities were in favour of them.
"I think we do need to be politically sensitive to these different cultural needs, but I am convinced that we can no longer tolerate the cost, both financial and to peoples' health and the environment that many, if not all bonfires inflict," he said.
In July, the windows and doors of more than 50 homes on Chobham Street in east Belfast had to be boarded up after a huge bonfire was built just 30ft from the terraced street.
More than 30 firefighters hosed down houses on the street to prevent them from catching fire after the bonfire was lit.
