Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to speak in general terms to sections 7 and 8. I will highlight some correspondence that I received about them and outline in particular concerns among beekeepers. In one email, the correspondent, a beekeeper in east Cork, told me that the person's apiaries had decreased in size from an average of 15 in the early 1990s to, at best, nine today. Honey bees are a great indicator species of the environment, as they only forage within a radius of 1.5 miles. The decrease can mostly be attributed to changes in farming practices such as hedge cutting and hedgerow removal. For that reason, the correspondent urged me to vote against sections 7 and 8. This is testimony from someone with an interest in beekeeping. Another person was concerned that the changes to the hedge cutting dates would lead to further declines in populations of the red listed yellowhammer, the linnet and the greenfinch and reduce essential food supplies for pollinators, of which one third are threatened with extinction. These are just two samples of a large number of emails to me outlining concerns with sections 7 and 8.

I represent an urban-rural constituency. I understand as well as western and north-western representatives sensitive issues in urban and rural areas. I have an understanding of rural issues because I speak to people in rural Ireland every single day of the week. We should not be going down the road of hedge cutting in the month of August. It is not a question of extending the period for hedge cutting but of ensuring adequate resources in the first instance so that hedge cutting can be completed in 100% of cases where necessary during the apposite season. When local authorities issue hedge cutting contracts, those contracts do not cover the entirety of the areas that need to be cut back. It is foolish of the House to go down this road without a proper interrogation and examination of what we are proposing to do.

I am not a dyed in the wool, die in a ditch environmentalist, but I hope I have common sense. I grew up spending large swathes of my time in the countryside and living in a town where one need only walk a mile to be out in the countryside. One had an understanding of the seasons and how they worked. Nesting was always vital and understood by rural dwellers. For every Deputy who tells the House that farmers are custodians and will make the right decisions, many farmers in my area have expressed to me concerns about what is being proposed in this Bill. Their concerns are echoed in the correspondence we have received from the likes of BirdWatch Ireland, with people telling us that Ireland's legal protections for nature are regressing. I have had my issues with An Taisce, which is a stakeholder body, entering objections to young people's planning applications in rural Ireland. I have my issues with many people who are headquartered, as it were, in Dublin and seek to profess widely of their knowledge of the dynamics of rural Ireland, but I do not know anyone who would disagree with the logic in BirdWatch Ireland's fears about this legislation, particularly sections 7 and 8. I do not know to which vested interest these sections are pandering, but they are against nature.

If the right resources and budgets were allocated to local authorities during the current window of opportunity for hedge cutting, every single hedgerow in the counties we represent could be cut annually or biannually where necessary and the red herring of protecting the leanaí going to school could not be used.

I pour scorn on the notion of selling this legislation as a two-year pilot covering all 26 counties. I am not the first person to make this point, but when has this country ever used pilot programmes that cover all counties? Previously, there might be one, two, four or six pilot programmes in every region. Are the Minister and her officials serious about this and asking us to take it seriously? It is a joke of a provision.

BirdWatch Ireland's submission reads:

The legislation is being sold as a 2-year 'Pilot' period which covers all 26 counties but no methodology for such a pilot has been provided, no baseline data has been gathered. Most worryingly, Section 8 of the Bill is not subject to the 'Pilot' period, it can continue indefinitely.

I realise that I am under time pressure.

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