Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Fáiltím an deis labhairt ar an ábhar seo. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this issue. My predecessor, the former Deputy P.J. Sheehan, used the oft-quoted line that there would be nothing left in west Cork but bachelors, briars and bullocks. I am returning to that theme today, particularly to the issue of briars - I am not that concerned about the bachelors or bullocks. The former Deputy used to refer to the briars shaking hands in the middle of the road and I am here to inform the Minister that in many cases in west Cork, the situation has got worse since it was first brought to the attention of the House by my former colleague.

The current position of Cork County Council according to a recent reply is that it is not in a position due to resource constraints to patrol all roadside hedges and issue notices on a systematic basis. Nevertheless, notices are regularly issued, particularly when a specific problem is brought to the attention of staff. It is an objective of the roads directorate to follow up assiduously on any cases of non-compliance with such notices.

Essentially, if a person reports to the council that a particular landowner has overgrown hedges, the council will issue the landowner with a notice but those who are out walking or driving do not have the wherewithal to write down each landowner's details. It goes against the grain for many people to report on their neighbours or to set neighbour against neighbour by writing to the council seeking legal directives for people to cut their hedges. Under the law the Roads Act 1993 passes responsibility for this duty to the landowner but the council undertook this practice until 2009 and maintained the roadside hedges. Since 2009, it has abandoned that duty and left it to the law to take its course. The reality, however, is that the system is not working. To be fair to rural dwellers, when we canvass such areas, they do not make many demands of their elected councillors, and I have had the privilege of running in two local elections, but one issue of annoyance to them is that of overgrown hedges and I am anxious councils would take on board the responsibility to deal with this.

I live in the real world and I am not looking for Exchequer funding but I ask the Minister to speak to his officials and come up with a national policy whereby the Department would take the lead in the matter and instruct the councils to be more proactive. At a time when we are trying to achieve a greater level of compliance with the household charge, and people in rural areas have in general paid the charge with no difficulty while making few demands of the council in return - they do not get waste services or water - one issue that is very important to them is that the hedges are trimmed. People have shown goodwill by paying the household charge so a greater policy response on behalf of councils would go a long way towards addressing this problem rather than the abandonment that has taken place to date. As matters stand it is a matter for individual landowners and if they are reported, the council will follow up.

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