Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On a point of clarification, an important issue, which will arise again at the end of this point, is that roadside hedges cannot be cut because of the provisions of the wildlife legislation. As a practitioner engaged in agricultural contracting I know, as do we all, that the front of the tractor can be anything from 8 ft. to 10 ft. in front of the cab. With the roadside hedges uncut, it is inherently more dangerous for a tractor to exit onto a road. That is the situation faced by contractors and farmers. It is a nonsense and it should be examined, especially in terms of the safety of tractors exiting onto the road. It is highly dangerous and one could have far more visibility and see up to 100 yd. up a road if roadside hedges were cut back. That legislation needs to be examined. Because of the wet weather this year hedges have not been cut. The matter of roadside hedges is a big issue for farm contractors and for all road users because it is more difficult to drive a vehicle onto a road if one has poor visibility due to the roadside hedges not having been cut.