Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What I have to say is very straightforward. What the Minister did to people in rural Ireland is totally unjustified. One has to be there to understand it. Hedges in the city and along the motorways are being cut every day of the week, even when there is no need to cut them. One could land in Killarney or Mitchelstown and think one has travelled the country, but that is not the truth when one goes up little roads in Gneevgullia and back around Kilcummin and Lauragh.

Where there is no trace of the yellow line, it is because the hedge has grown out over it. All we asked was that roadside hedges be cut. I tabled an amendment which specified that they be cut all year round. I have no gripe with the presence of birds, bees or anything like that, but they have the whole country in which to live. We must put people first when it comes to maintaining roadsides. We are telling people to walk and cycle, but they cannot do so because of overhanging hedges at that time of year. I dropped my amendment which sought to have hedges cut all year round because it had come back to me that the Minister was in favour of cutting them in August. I said to myself that that was a start, but, lo and behold, when we back went down to County Kerry the announcement came that she had forbidden the cutting of hedges in August. That was greatly hurtful to people in rural Ireland. Narrow roads, indeed all roads, are affected by lack of sight around turns. Having the ability to see further around turns helps people's safety. We want to know what will happen next year. We brought the issue to the floor of the Dáil at the behest of local authority members who had been inundated with requests from people who were seeking permission to cut hedges. They were making the request because there was extensive growth at that time of year. The rate of growth this year was worse than in any previous year. Local authority figures were raising the issue for years, asking where was the promised Bill and what was happening with it. I was here three years before we passed it, but here we are again, having achieved nothing after all of the debating and talking in council chambers, the Dáil Chamber and at this committee.

The Minister has let us down very badly. She has especially let down the people of rural Ireland. They have also been hurt by the hare licence issue and we are not going to take it lying down. If she thinks that will the case, she is mistaken. Stopping us from cutting hedges in August is the worst thing that has happened to rural Ireland. The Minister promised us that she would allow it and we voted in favour of it here. Farming organisations all around the country were watching us, but here we are, having done nothing. In addition, we were stopped from burning in the month of March because it was stated there was no need to do it. What I have noticed since I came to Dublin is-----