Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is saying that the 6.33% figure would be the case if every roadside hedge was cut, but there are four hedges in a field with three sides to each hedge. As such, one twelfth of the hedges are road-facing. There are also fields that do not touch any roadside, so the figure drops further. When I was at school, one twelfth of 100% equated to approximately 8%. I don not believe it would be even that in this case, though. Where I live, unless the corners are very bad, it is normally the local authority that undertakes hedge cutting, so the figure is probably one tenth of that again. As such, fewer than 1% of hedges will be trimmed on the outside. What is more likely to happen is something that happens all of the time anyway. In the autumn, farmers trim 50 m on each side to allow for better access to fields for tractors and better visibility for road users.

This is the same issue that is being debated in the Road Traffic Bill, namely, human safety, and human safety has to trump all. Therefore, I will not press my amendment.