Dr. Alan Moore:

We are not aware of any improvement with Irish Rail. Our engagement with the company was essentially unsatisfactory. In brief, we were concerned that with fencing replacement operations, the method being used was to remove the entire hedgerow rather than working with the existing one. That project led us to discover all the issues the committee has heard about this evening, including a lack of protection of hedgerows and the failure to implement environmental assessments when removal is proposed. We do not feel we have got very far with Irish Rail but the recommendations we make will protect not only Irish Rail hedgerows but the entire network being discussed this evening.