Mr. Thomas Curran:

By way of information, the Department conducted an exercise where it measured the length of hedgerows to provide space for nature as part of the new eco-scheme options. That is an acknowledgement of the level of hedgerows that are on farms and will help an awful lot of farmers to achieve the 4% requirement stipulated in the new scheme. The farmers who do not have 4% will be required to plant hedging. My colleague, Dr. Catherine Keena, would say that a hedge should be a minimum height of 1.8 m. In some situations that might involve infilling existing hedges or changing to a cyclical management of hedgerows whereby not all of them are cut and perfectly neat and tidy all of the time. A thorn hedge with flowering plants is vital for nesting birds and so on. She also has put a huge emphasis on field margins, which contributes to biodiversity within a hedgerow.