Mr. Padraic Joyce:

A question was asked on why we are emphasising road safety. Hedges are at their fullest in the month of August.

It is the time of year at which farmers do their harvesting work and when one will find there are more tractors on the road, with two or three exits from the one field. Accordingly, they could be completely closed off. August is also a time when there is more traffic on the roads because of tourism. Farmers are conscious that it poses a danger to a tractor driver, buses and cyclists. Briars can grow out by 1 m in one year and be a danger to somebody cycling on the road, for example.