Mr. Neil Foulkes:

Regarding the liability question, it is beyond my ability to answer that. That will be a matter for the courts but it is certainly a question that needs to be asked and it is also a question, with respect to the changes in this Bill, that has not been asked up to this point. In terms of alternatives, as the Senator said, Clare County Council has a community hedge-cutting scheme. Such a scheme is due to be introduced in County Cork. There is one in County Leitrim and I am working with Leitrim county Council in connection with it. I believe Roscommon and Mayo are considering introducing one. The basic emphasis of those alternatives is to do what the overall alternative is. If we manage as much of the hedgerows as we can during the appropriate six months, the open season for cutting, that reduces the need for cutting during the closed period. It does not eliminate it entirely because there could be a need to cut vegetative growth again during the summer months in certain circumstances particularly on narrow rural roads. Those alternatives to try to get the necessary work done at the appropriate time will mitigate against the need for cutting during the closed period where it can be damaging.

In terms of a pilot scheme, I totally agree with the Senator. It is very confusing as to whether we are regulating to do something in the month of August. There seems to be a general provision created by section 8. My personal view is that if section 8 was amended to allow a landowner to know that they were clear to cut under notice served by a local authority under section 70, that would clear up any of the issues. It would show that a landowner was not acting on their own decision-making. They would be acting on the basis of a decision made by a roads authority engineer. That would go some way to clarifying the liability aspect.