Mr. Pat Dunne:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to come in. First, I apologise for the absence of our president, Mr. Joe Healy, who is in Brussels on important business to do with Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, reform. Unfortunately, he could not make it, but we will proceed. I am chairman of the IFA national hill committee. Padraic Joyce is the Connacht regional chairman and Gerry Gunning is the IFA rural development executive.

The IFA welcomes the proposed Heritage Bill put forward by the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Humphreys. We, as farmers, understand that hedgerows and uplands are an important source of biodiversity. The IFA has sought the introduction of necessary flexibilities to allow farmers manage hedgerows and uplands properly.

An anomaly exists whereby hedge cutting and gorse burning restrictions imposed on farmers in the Republic of Ireland are broadly out of line with restrictions imposed in other similar climatic regions, including Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The gorse burning restrictions in the Republic of Ireland impact on the amount of available grazing land and the general competitiveness of the sector. In other words, they contribute to make vast areas of upland areas ineligible for single farm payments.

The excessive closed period for hedge cutting impacts on road safety for pedestrians and motorists. This is a point accepted by the Road Safety Authority. It also leads to farm safety concerns, with hedge cutting works being confined to a time of the year when daylight is declining. In addition, the timeframe to cut hedgerows on wet land is often limited, as it can be restricted due to soil conditions. That is particularly the case in certain sections of the country where ground conditions may not allow it to happen during the legal cutting time. The timeframe available to cut hedgerows on winter tillage farms is severely restricted, as the period of time where fields have no growing crops is limited.

To address the issue of sustainable use and management of our uplands, the IFA supports the Bill on gorse burning for several reasons.

The dates for the burning season must be brought back in line with the UK and Northern Ireland. This is necessary as the region encompassing Ireland and Britain has the same type of climate and environmental challenges. Table 1 shows that burning is permitted in all areas in Scotland from 1 October until 15 April, inclusive, and the dates can be extended to 30 April under the authority of the land owner. In England, burning is allowed from 1 October until 15 April in upland areas and from 1 November to 31 March in lowlands and elsewhere. In Wales the dates are 1 October until 30 March in the uplands and the dates for lowlands and elsewhere are 1 November to 15 March. In Northern Ireland, all areas are covered from 1 September to 14 April. However, the dates for all areas in the Republic are 1 September to 28 or 29 February. There is a vast difference. Traditionally, burning was carried out in upland areas in the spring when the old vegetation had died down and was suitable for burning. We cannot do that now because in upland areas the land and gorse is not dry enough at the specified time of year. It is only in very exceptional circumstances that it can be burned.

Hill land management is supported through agri-environment schemes such as GLAS, GLAS+ or the locally led agri-environment scheme in the rural development plan for 2014 to 2020. The commonage management plans, which are an integral part of the GLAS scheme, should involve a burning period much longer than currently exists. Co-ordinated management practices are essential for good hill land management. Through the management of hill land, the IFA believes that local burning management groups should be established to ensure that maximum advantage is achieved through a longer burning period. Farmers need the necessary research to back up their management practices as well as the necessary supports for hill farming. Burning is a vital management tool to ensure that land is not overgrown and abandoned as a result. That is becoming a major problem.

There are more and more abandoned upland areas because of the restrictive burning dates currently in place, which were introduced in 2000. I am a member of the Wicklow uplands council which has campaigned continually since then to try to change the burning dates. The council encompasses all representative groups, all of which have supported the extension of the burning dates. We carried out a number of studies two years ago. Last February, we did a burning workshop which was very successful. We want to try to show people it can be done very successfully and in a managed way to ensure there are not huge overburns such as happened in parts of the west and north west of Ireland earlier this summer.

In the context of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, keeping land eligible for EU payments is vital as sustaining farming is a major challenge in marginal land areas. The Bill is an opportunity to bring the burning dates in Ireland broadly in line with the UK and Northern Ireland. What is proposed will not be quite as long as is allowed in Northern Ireland, but at least it is one month longer than what we have at the moment. This will assist efforts to address uncontrolled wildfires which are common and a serious fire risk to forestry plantations, and uncontrolled vegetation, that is, tall heather and gorse which pose a threat to public safety, public and private property, including forestry, as well as impacting on recreational tourism.

Farmers are seeing increasing numbers of wild deer grazing on lowland pastures. They are coming down from the highlands to lowland pastures because the vegetation has become too scrubby and rough and is no longer palatable. In my county, Wicklow, it has become a major issue. Deer are now seen by farmers as a plague rather than what they should be seen as. I would now like to ask Padraic Joyce to outline to the committee the IFA's position on hedge cutting.