Mr. Pádraic Fogarty:

With regard to roadsides, we have been very explicit all through this debate that we would never ever seek to prohibit hedge cutting where there is an issue of health and safety. I have said it here and I have said it many times before. We put that in all our statements. Health and safety is the number one priority. The time of the year does not matter when it comes to a health and safety issue. We do not disagree on that point.

With regard to wildlife groups not speaking up about the removal of gorse, that is unfair and inaccurate because we have pointed out since the last round of the CAP which removed requirements under set-aside that we were also predicting that it would result in an awful lot of habitat loss and fines. We have been vocal on those issues.

As for wanting to turn west Cork into a park, I suggest that Deputy Collins read some of the statements we have made in the past about wildlife management in rural areas. I think he will find that we have never suggested that people should not be central to the preservation of the countryside and landscape.