Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned by the way the debate is going. What Deputy Tóibín is raising is not connected to what we are trying to do. The Bill is about extending the burning time by one month and extending the cutting time in August by one month. I do not agree with what he said about roadside hedges. No bird is foolish enough to make a nest on the side of a busy road and every road is busy now. School buses, plant machinery and cars taking young people to school are up and down narrow country roads. Birds do not nest in roadside hedges. I would like these hedges to be cut all year round in the interest of the safety of walkers and cyclists and of people who have valuable cars. They are trying to get up and down these roads and their cars are scratched and torn. People's eyes are nearly taken out in the evening walking on these roads.

The Deputy is trying to obstruct the legislation and is saying we are threatening birds and other wildlife but we have to consider people as well. People are our priority. There is so much ado here about safety on the roads and, at the same time, every attempt is being made to prevent us from cutting hedges. If the Deputy was interested in preserving wildlife and ground nesting birds, in particular, why not deal with the mink, magpies, hawks, grey crows and foxes? They are the guys that are hurting our ground nesting birds. It is very, very wrong to suggest that because we want to cut trees overhanging our roads and roadside hedges, we will damage the bird population around the country. I am sorry that I cannot support the Deputy's argument. I have nothing against birds but there are other ways to protect them. The Deputy will not protect them by saying we cannot cut hedges.

The Bill is about extending the burning period by one month. It has been discussed long enough. The Bill started out with the intention of dealing with the burning and cutting of hedges, especially roadside hedges, for the safety of the people travelling the roads. I cannot understand why the canals were introduced into it. Was it to cloud the issue? The farming population and road users will not put up with the conditions they have to operate under currently. People cannot get up or down any road because of overhanging trees and so on and something must be done. There is a lot of talk about stopping a fellow having a pint and a half from driving but what happens when a branch falls off a tree - and it only needs to be the length of someone's arm - and it hits the windscreen of some woman taking her children to or from school and she dies? A family is left without a mother. During the last storm, three people were killed in this way. We need to get real and talk about people. I was brought up to love animals and all wildlife but we must protect people first and that is what I thought the Bill was about. The Deputy and his party are entitled to bring another Bill relating to birds before the Dáil but he should not try to obstruct what we are at here today because time is moving on and we need to deal with the legislation.