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

I thank the Deputy, but I will not accept the amendment. He is proposing to delete section 40(2) and replace it with new provisions. The existing section 40(2) sets out the exemptions referred to in section 40(1) prohibiting the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation from 1 March to 31 August. The exemptions include works carried out in the ordinary course of agricultural work undertaken by Departments and public bodies for public health and safety reasons, clearance work involving road or other construction projects and fisheries development works undertaken by Inland Fisheries Ireland. Therefore, the amendment proposed by the Deputy would be highly prescriptive and involve me in making regulations under a number of headings, including, curiously, for air safety reasons, to allow exemptions under section 40(1).

The exemption provisions in the existing section 40(2) are considered reasonable and I do not see any need for a change in the exemptions. As the Deputy is aware, an amendment to section 40(2) of the 1976 Act is proposed in section 8 of the Bill and will be discussed later in the debate. For the reasons I have given, I ask the committee to reject amendment No. 24.