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

Section 7 mainly deals with August provisions and section 8 provides for hazards all year round. As we have already discussed, these provisions detail the regulations for the trimming of the current year's growth. There is a balance of consideration here. I have been advised by the experts in the National Parks and Wildlife Service in this regard. The consultation has been public with 188 submissions received ranging from detailed submissions to individual brief points of view. Stakeholder groups such as BirdWatch Ireland, An Taisce, the Irish Farmers Association, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, Departments and local authorities also made submissions. There were 102 submissions from members of the public, 44 submissions from representative bodies, 29 submissions from other Departments and local authorities, eight submissions from elected representatives and five submissions from businesses and consultancies.

Ireland has some 300,000 km of hedgerows. When we speak of roadside hedges as the subject of the provisions of this Bill, it is actually a fraction of the entirety of the total hedgerow resource we are so lucky to have. It is actually just 2%. I noted also the contributions from the other Deputies on this subject.