Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is a balance to be struck. The point has been made. However, what we have here does not capture the balance. Deputy McNamara made the point well. It is not simply an issue of distance. I might raise something that was mentioned to me by someone from a different constituency who happened to be passing through Dún Laoghaire. Where trees are overhanging a road and there is a requirement on the property owner to cut them down on foot of a health and safety risk, it is virtually impossible for that property owner to act. He or she would have to stop the whole road. It should really be the local authority which has the responsibility for doing it. A complicated balance is involved. Certainly, the idea that one could have free rein to cut down any tree within 10 m of a public road means trees that should not be cut down will be. They will not be cut down just for legitimate health and safety reasons but potentially for other reasons. I have further amendments in the same vein with respect to hedgerows. We must reconsider the provision.