Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a quick question for the Department if that is all right. I know a small farmer who is proud of his hedgerows and has seen bigger farmers nearby remove their hedgerows. The witnesses mentioned the EPA earlier. The EPA did a study in 2014. It was done by Dr. Kevin Black in conjunction with a then emerging company, Treemetrics, in Cork. The research showed that the hedgerows and wooded areas of Ireland are a small but significant carbon shore. That small farmer and many other small farmers take great offence that those hedgerows are classified as grassland. Conservatively, the report estimated that hedgerows accounted for 4% of the Irish landscape. One recommendation of that research was that a full hedgerow assessment is needed if Ireland is to use hedgerows as part of actions to address the causes of climate change. This would need to be linked to appropriate incentives for better management of this important resource. Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned the use of LiDAR in Northern Ireland. The report also suggested that LiDAR technology could be used, since it would provide amazing detail about the volume of carbon stored in Ireland's hedgerows. Was any action taken to follow up on that research? Was a comprehensive assessment of hedgerows undertaken as suggested seven years ago, in 2014?