Ms Shirley Clerkin:

In Monaghan, the survey was very exact in a sense. It came from a random selection but it was an exact random selection. County Monaghan, for example, is divided into approximately 12.5 km squares. There is a 10 km square and a 1 km square on the left-hand side box of each of those, and all the hedges in that were surveyed. That is the methodology for the survey right across the country.

In County Monaghan in 2010 we had 12,845 km of hedges and in 2021 we had 11,921 km of hedges, meaning we probably lost 1,154 km of hedges in our small county. Now I know we are a drumlin landscape and there may be other factors. I certainly know from anecdotal evidence and speaking with colleagues in other counties that similar concerns come to them as heritage officers in their local authorities. The Deputy knows how heritage officers are in contact with local communities. We have contacts in local areas all around our counties and that is the news coming to us. It is worrying but we can do something. That is the important point. Planting new hedgerows where none exists is always good but keeping what we have and improving them is equally or more important.