Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Durkan for taking the Chair to facilitate me in speaking on this matter.

We are into open season on hedgerows again with hedgerow trimming or cutting, however we want to term it. It is also about hedgerow removal, which obviously has far more long-term consequences and a greater environmental impact. During the closed season, the Department of agriculture engaged in a review of the environmental impact screening thresholds, which essentially was about how much hedgerow you are allowed to remove without applying for an environmental impact screening assessment. That currently stands at 500 m. That means, as it currently stands, a farmer is allowed to remove up to half a kilometre of hedgerow without implying any environmental impact at all.

Removing hedgerows has a huge environmental impact and a huge heritage impact. We know that hedgerows discharge many functions within the Irish landscape. First, they are incredibly important biodiversity corridors. Our bird species, in particular, are hugely dependent on the berries and fruits produced particularly at this time of year. There are obviously our insect species and pollinators. They are hugely important for the beautiful whitethorn hedges we see in the springtime. Our insect life also supports so much else in the food web, be it bird life tracking through into the mammals that use these hedgerows as wildlife corridors that crisscross the entirety of our landscape. They have an important role in carbon sequestration. Unfortunately, Ireland remains one of the countries in Europe with the lowest forest cover. There are all sorts of historical reasons for that, such as reasons of colonisation. That is not important in this conversation because we are where we find ourselves. However, for that reason our hedgerows are all the more important. They really are the extant tree cover in our landscape. For that reason, they play an important role in carbon sequestration

. Another role they discharge is in regard to the retention of water in our landscape. As we remove more and more of these natural features, and as our weather changes, we are increasingly seeing flooding events. We are coming up on the first anniversary of the terrible flooding in east Cork and in my own constituency in west Waterford. Hedgerows within a landscape prevent water from travelling across a landscape. They prevent flooding. We are particular in allowing quite so much removal without environmental impact assessment. I understand that in Wales it is closer to 20 m. In my own piece of Private Member's business, which has passed First Stage in this House, I talk about reducing it to a lower level without that environmental impact assessment. That is not to be oblivious to the needs of modern farming. I understand the tillage sector, for example, needs larger spaces. However, if hedgerow is to be removed, an appropriate environmental impact assessment must be performed to show whether that is appropriate.

The Department of agriculture has had a long time to conclude this review. I do not have sight of the results of this review, and I worry that we are waiting until the Green Party is no longer in government before we proceed on this review. It is important to our biodiversity, our wildlife, our carbon sequestration and our flooding. If we are indeed in a biodiversity emergency, as this House acknowledged in 2019, we should act like we are.

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