Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We all want to respect the hedgerows and biodiversity but ladies and gentlemen are going around in cars and vans taking on the role of officers of some State body or something. They are part of an NGO which is intimidating ordinary workers driving machines, cutting hedges for health and safety reasons by order of the county council and sometimes for farmers to stop cattle from going over the ditches when the fences are being contacted by briars and weeds. These people are pulling in, causing a danger to traffic and the tractor operator and telling them that they are breaking the law. I understand it is the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, that deals with this. I commend the NPWS officers for engaging with contractors and farmers and being reasonable. We have no time in this country for NGOs that want to act as legal people to try to bully people out of their jobs.

They bully contractors and farmers. This is a shocking situation from a funded NGO-----

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