Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to add my voice to some of the points raised on sections 7 and 8 of this Bill. The question we must ask ourselves is whether they add to the protection to wildlife. I do not believe the argument can be made that they do that. They do the reverse. We know that one third of the 98 bee species in Ireland are threatened with extinction. We also know how important the bee population is in terms of pollenation of crops and plants. I have a very small garden but I deliberately grew plants that attracted bees. One can see that one can have a very positive impact in very small spaces in reversing the kind of damage that happens as a consequence of pollutants, pesticides, agri-chemicals and so on. I believe most farmers appreciate the importance of wildlife on the health of land and agriculture but agriculture is having a direct impact on the threatening of the bee population.

I thought I was seeing things when I saw birds' nests in trees close to where I live that are right beside a road. I was thinking that the birds in Kildare must be terribly stupid. They do not seem to be that stupid in Kerry where they can avoid making their nests on the side of the road. To be perfectly honest, I never heard anything so ridiculous. We should not lecture people about knowledge of the countryside. One only has to drive along a road to see that birds do not pick and choose where the road system goes. They will nest where they can find an appropriate place to nest.

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