Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----the rural regeneration and development fund, investment in national parks and reserves and, specifically, hedge cutting. Among the findings in the report I mentioned earlier is that the decline in the numbers of bees, butterflies and other insects has largely resulted from the effects of monoculture and the drive to ever-higher levels of productivity, characterised by loss or neglect of hedgerows, farmland edges and scrub.

It has also led to the deliberate removal of habitats, such as hedgerows and wetlands, and there has been some criticism of agricultural policy which does not support diverse hedgerows. If I had been in a position to extend the regulations, I would have done so. For all the reasons I have outlined, however, I was not in a position to do so and I stand by that decision. It would not have been the right thing to do in these circumstances.

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