Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In general, in many parts of the country the hedges are much higher and bigger than they were 40 or 50 years ago, or more especially 100 years ago, where every winter they were cut back low.

The available testimony tells us that was the way it was because land was scarce and precious. The people then had a way of folding the hedges in. If one looks out across the countryside from my house, which is on a slight height, one will see far more growth than there was when I began living there.

There has been discussion of fires in the Dublin mountains over the past week. It always seems to me that people presume that such fires are started by farmers who purposely disregard the law. I understand the fires occurred on land in the ownership of the Minister's Department. Has she any preliminary indications as to who started them, how they started or whether they were started by farmers?

See this speech in context