Mr. Peter Farrelly:

In regard to the hedges, our councils are ending up in court over hedge cutting. That is a big problem. We hear that the councils can go ahead with cutting if they believe the hedges are unsafe but Longford County Council was in court over it. The contractor was fined €3,500 as was the council. I was in court because I cut hedges outside a football pitch to make it safe. The law is there to allow hedges be cut but the law is not working. Only 4% of hedges are on roadsides, so there are plenty of other places in the fields for birds to live. All hedges that need cutting for road safety should be cut. We would have less of the leaves, debris and hassle that we see with stormy weather.