Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

During this process, my Department received almost 190 submissions ranging from detailed ones to individual brief points of view. Stakeholder groups such as BirdWatch Ireland, An Taisce, the IFA, the ICMSA, Departments and local authorities were among those to respond. The working group established within my Department considered the issues raised in the submissions and its own experience of the implementation of section 40.

To clarify for Deputy Tóibín, there is no question of reducing hedges in August. This provision only allows for the trimming of road-facing hedges. I should also correct the Deputy on another point.

Not only was the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport contacted, it agreed with section 8. I am not sure from where the Deputy got that information, but it is incorrect.