David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, for being here. I raised this issue last May with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. At the time, he told me the implementation of legislation on the management of tree and hedge-cutting operations was a matter for local authorities and landowners. The problem is that the countryside is full of dead ash trees, many of which are by roadsides. Last winter, I saw that a number of them had fallen down under heavy winds, storms and so on. This posed serious risk to people using the roadways. Since then, I have noticed many more of them around the country. One can see the dead trees in the hedgerows with other the trees. They are extraordinarily dangerous.

I am delighted the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, is here given that his Department published a guide for landowners to managing roadside trees in 2021. It is very clearly stated in the publication that dead trees should be felled. Full stop. They are extraordinarily dangerous. If a tree falls down on a road at night, someone could drive into it.

I do not want to be here next winter bemoaning the fact that action was not taken and awareness was not raised on this issue. I do not want to be here, or someone else to be here, asking why we did not raise awareness or why the local authorities did not take action, identify the trees and contact the landowners to tell them it is their responsibility to take down these trees.

Where lies the issue with regard to insurance? If I am driving along a road, a tree falls on top of my car, I get badly injured and my car is badly damaged, where does responsibility lie? Will the insurance companies stand over an issue with respect to trees that are obviously dangerous and could fall down and kill or seriously injure somebody? This matter affects areas all over the country. It relates not only to ash dieback but also Dutch elm disease, which has made an appearance recently.

The Minister for Transport says it is a matter for the local authorities. The Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, has responsibility for farm safety issues and is doing a great job on that. His Department has issued a guide for landowners but the missing piece here is nudging landowners to take action. We need to take action before it is too late. We do not want a Deputy asking the Taoiseach on Leaders' Questions next spring why the Government did not do something about this. I am raising it now. I have seen trees that have already fallen, the damage they can cause and the dangers they pose. I notice more and more of them around the country. Will the Minister of State and his Government colleagues instruct local authorities to carry out surveys and if trees are found that are obviously dead and could easily fall in a gale, that they notify the landowner that they have to be removed?

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There might be a cost involved here and this could be a serious one if the tree is very large. This work does not come cheap. If a landowner has a whole roadside full of dead trees, it could cost €1,000 per tree to take them down. Many issues arise here, then, but the most important one is that involving health and safety and life and death. This is a life-and-death issue. I know the Minister of State in his own work in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is really concerned about safety issues. I will not say this is a real live safety issue because the trees are dead, but it should be addressed as a matter of extreme urgency before the winter sets in and we have bad weather and storms where we will see many more of these trees coming down on roads and cars. God forbid that we see people injured or worse.

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