Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They grow. That is their purpose, and it is the same with hedges. Kids are the same. They are not as dainty either. Most people would cut their hedge back every year but will not touch trees. For trees, you have to be capable of going up a ladder and able to manage all the safety of cutting down a tree and so on. Sometimes it happens when a new estate is being built and because it looks nice in the sales brochure, trees are planted in the back gardens. If we were to go back 20 years later to see what those trees look like, a lot of the owners will have taken them out if they could. There is a cost involved to everybody, such as the cost of pruning a tree every year or addressing matters when it gets too big. There is also a cost if it is damaging gardens. If you have one of those dainty gardens, but there is a tree next door and its roots are coming up in your garden, it is no longer dainty. Legally, you can cut all those roots and cut back on one whole side of the tree to make sure it is not overhanging your side but, by doing so, you can create a danger.

The legislation provides for mediation and adjudicating officers. It also includes the terms and conditions of a work order and what happens if a work order is not complied with.

Let us take a situation where a work order is agreed to during the mediation process and the people concerned then refuse to go ahead with the works they have agreed to. Where do you go then? Obviously, as I said, there is always recourse to the District Court.

I am happy to have this hearing on this important issue for many people. I would hope they will heed what the Minister of State has said and what we said here during the debate on what is now the Mediation Act 2017. There is at least a process there and it is being rolled out across the country. It is possible for people to take this approach of mediation. When we get back to this legislation, then, we would be able to address the situation if there were to be an associated big funding cost. Most of the costs would come in the initial phases because everyone would want their local authorities to deal with these problems quickly. After that, though, most of the issues should settle down. There would, therefore, be costs involved. Training would also be involved.

It might be that we as a House would decide that instead of looking to the local authorities we would place responsibility for dealing with this process with the mediation service and have this as the approach people can take. The only concern I have is that the mediation service does not have an enforcement aspect to its remit. If someone signs up to an agreement between two parties, therefore, this is where the process stops in mediation. What if a party, and this often happens, goes, "Happy days, we have done that", and then a year later the tree has grown another 10 ft and the works have not happened? In this instance, and in the context of other mediation attempts, there is always the danger that one of the people involved will not comply with the outcome.

I will leave it at that. Gabhaim buíochas arís leo siúd ar fad a thug cabhair dom maidir leis an gcur chuige a bhí againn agus an Bille seo á chur le chéile, ach go háirithe leo siúd san OPLA, leis an bhfoireann taighde sa leabharlann anseo, agus dár ndóigh leis an Aire as ucht bheith anseo le déileáil leis. Gabhaim buíochas freisin leis an Teachta Ó Murchú agus leis an gCeann Comhairle. Tá súil agam go mbainfear tairbhe as an mBille seo agus go mbeimid in ann a rá amach anseo gur tháinig rud éigin foirfe as an iarracht a rinneamar ag an am coiste na petitions a chur ar bun. Bhí sé i gceist i gcónaí dá mbeadh fadhb bunúsach ann go mbeadh an coiste in ann é a ardú leis na hAirí agus a leithéid, mar a dhein sé ina thuairisc. Ansin, toisc gur lean mé leis an gcinneadh a ghlacadh ag an gcoiste sin, bhíomar in ann an Bille seo a chur faoi bhráid na Dála. Tá súil agam anois go bhfuil an Dara Chéim críochnaithe agus go mbeimid in ann díriú isteach ar an gcéad chéim eile.

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