Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

With no disrespect to the Minister, we are used to shelter belts down the country. A field is generally rectangle or square. When one mows a field then one goes around in a semi-circle and there could be an area that is 40 m by 40 m. My question does not contradict my first point. Why do we not allow people to plant the hectare in whatever way they like? For example, if the space is along a river then it should be three trees wide. I would promote the planting of native trees for an area along a river. If a person is doing a shelter belt or something that helps the environment then people should be able to put a hectare together or in two sections if they wanted that would be wider than 20 m.