Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I wish to say to the Minister that we do not need to engage in political insults here as we debate. I do not believe that I have said at any stage that farmers were not custodians of nature, which she has cited to me as a quote. I do not think it makes her argument to play party politics. We are here to tease out the details of the legislation and I argue that political insults will not help. I believe that farmers are and should be the custodians of nature. I have the highest regard and respect for them. I want to help and support them in that task but this legislation is unhelpful.

I want to discuss the key point and, to a certain extent, there is confusion. The Minister has said that nothing in the Wildlife Acts should restrict the ability of the Roads Act to apply, and that we have to apply road safety. I agree but I am uncertain about amending the Wildlife Act to exclude the month of August from the provisions of section 40. Why has the month of August been selected? As the Minister has said that the Roads Act must apply, why not carry that through to all of the legislation? What is the rationale for omitting the month of August alone? Where is the impetus for doing so? What is the strategic reason for same given the fact that we have section 70 of the Roads Act 1993, as she has said, which compels people to consider road safety when managing the landscape?