Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

The Minister will be familiar with trees from previous expeditions he undertook in London and north County Dublin regarding his former colleague, the former Deputy, Ray Burke. He should talk to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, about this issue. It is a real issue in the context of a citizen not having an immediate right of redress in circumstances that can be regarded as causing a significant nuisance. Seeking a right of redress in the courts is lengthy, off-putting and expensive and should be simplified. We did it in the case of noise to good effect where a simple application to the District Court can give rise to an order being made to cut trees or hedges.

There is another difficulty I ask the Minister to address in his departmental deliberations with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley. In some new housing estates green areas are reserved in ownership that can best be regarded as doubtful. Developers complete estates and plant trees in areas where ownership of the land is not easily identifiable. Those trees grow and flourish and can overhang house owners' land giving rise to restrictions of light as well as vision and can be most unsightly. These are estates without a formal legal entity or management company. Residents of the estate may not have the nuisance visited upon them and as such, have no interest in the matter, nor do they have ownership or legal title to the land in question.

It is a consequence of planning law where oftentimes developers are mandated to engage in a process of planting trees without any follow up once the trees are planted. Developers may have long since left the estate and the local authority has taken over responsibility for services, roads, footpaths, pipes and lighting, but not the open spaces. It pleases the authority to have no responsibility because it will only claim it does not have the resources to engage in the appropriate maintenance or landscaping. It is an issue to which there is no answer and I am pleased that Deputy Tuffy has returned to it again. I know she has raised it before.

As public representatives and legislators, it is important to find an appropriate form redress which, as Deputy Barrett said, is not expensive or lengthy. It needs to be such to give people confidence in a system of governance that will allow them to seek redress for what can be a very frustrating problem. To many it might seem a very straightforward and simple issue in the context of other matters to which we will advert. However, it is one that can be frustrating for some individuals in that they do not have a straightforward remedy. The option of issuing proceedings in the Circuit Court is not one that is taken lightly. It is also not immediately advisable because of the length of time, expense and risk involved.

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