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

I move amendment No. 85:

In page 18, line 35 and 36, to delete "20 centimetres" and substitute "10 centimetres".

All of these amendments have the same theme. What has emerged from this discussion is that size might not be the right criterion. It is a question of practicality. If something is a danger, blocks school buses or damages the road or if it has the potential to pose such dangers, cutting it down should be possible. Proximity to the road or size is not a good criterion, as it would allow hedges or something that is environmentally important or sensitive to be cut down unnecessarily. There is a problem with the criteria for making decisions on what can be cut down and it needs to be examined. Perhaps there is no perfect solution. The person in question is from Mullingar and the issue never even occurred to me beforehand. That said, some roads near the edge of my constituency towards the mountains experience these problems. Clearly the local authority must have a role in assessing what is dangerous and a responsibility to assist property owners on the basis of the common good.
The Minister of State should take all of these points on board. I certainly must consider some of them. I will revert to the people I have spoken to and consider which amendments can be tabled on Report Stage to try to get the balance right.