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

Are we discussing section 8? Perhaps the Minister will clarify a point I raised during my speech on Second Stage. Some persons came to me who believed this amendment would allow for wholesale cutting of hedges at any time of the year. I believed that all it did was provide for the existing section 70 of the Roads Act 1993, which allows - with the permission of the local authority - the trimming of hedges, the removal of trees that might fall and so on. Will the Minister confirm that section 8 in its present form does exactly that, no more and no less? Does it put back the status quofor whenever there is a need to cut a hedge for safety purposes at any time of the year - in the view of the local authority and not just in the farmer's view or the landholder's view - so that the local authority can give its permission or an order to do so?