Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Fáiltím an deis labhairt ar an ábhar seo. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this issue. My predecessor, the former Deputy P.J. Sheehan, used the oft-quoted line that there would be nothing left in west Cork but bachelors, briars and bullocks. I am returning to that theme today, particularly to the issue of briars - I am not that concerned about the bachelors or bullocks. The former Deputy used to refer to the briars shaking hands in the middle of the road and I am here to inform the Minister that in many cases in west Cork, the situation has got worse since it was first brought to the attention of the House by my former colleague.

The current position of Cork County Council according to a recent reply is that it is not in a position due to resource constraints to patrol all roadside hedges and issue notices on a systematic basis. Nevertheless, notices are regularly issued, particularly when a specific problem is brought to the attention of staff. It is an objective of the roads directorate to follow up assiduously on any cases of non-compliance with such notices.

Essentially, if a person reports to the council that a particular landowner has overgrown hedges, the council will issue the landowner with a notice but those who are out walking or driving do not have the wherewithal to write down each landowner's details. It goes against the grain for many people to report on their neighbours or to set neighbour against neighbour by writing to the council seeking legal directives for people to cut their hedges. Under the law the Roads Act 1993 passes responsibility for this duty to the landowner but the council undertook this practice until 2009 and maintained the roadside hedges. Since 2009, it has abandoned that duty and left it to the law to take its course. The reality, however, is that the system is not working. To be fair to rural dwellers, when we canvass such areas, they do not make many demands of their elected councillors, and I have had the privilege of running in two local elections, but one issue of annoyance to them is that of overgrown hedges and I am anxious councils would take on board the responsibility to deal with this.

I live in the real world and I am not looking for Exchequer funding but I ask the Minister to speak to his officials and come up with a national policy whereby the Department would take the lead in the matter and instruct the councils to be more proactive. At a time when we are trying to achieve a greater level of compliance with the household charge, and people in rural areas have in general paid the charge with no difficulty while making few demands of the council in return - they do not get waste services or water - one issue that is very important to them is that the hedges are trimmed. People have shown goodwill by paying the household charge so a greater policy response on behalf of councils would go a long way towards addressing this problem rather than the abandonment that has taken place to date. As matters stand it is a matter for individual landowners and if they are reported, the council will follow up.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The compliance rate with the household charge in Cork is not as good as in the local authorities in Deputy Ellis's and Deputy Clare Daly's constituencies. They are having much more success in those local authorities.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Perhaps they are not as good at distorting figures in those authorities as they are in our constituencies.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The facts speak for themselves. Under the Roads and Road Vehicles (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2007 all remaining matters pertaining to the Roads Act 1993 were transferred to the Minister with responsibility for transport. Consequently, this matter is one which comes within the policy remit of my colleague the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Perhaps the Office of the Ceann Comhairle might take note of that. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has a wide range of functions related to roads, including the legal framework for the provision and maintenance of roads, funding of the roads programme and promotion of road safety. The Department states that its overall objective is to provide, within the framework of a balanced and integrated transport policy, for the safe, efficient and cost effective movement of persons and goods by road. Specific objectives include those to ensure, as far as possible, the provision of a safe and efficient network of national, regional and local roads, and to ensure the optimum and safe use of the public road network.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each road authority. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the road authority.

It is also the case that section 70 of the Roads Act provides that the owner or occupier of land must take all reasonable steps to ensure that a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation on the land is not a hazard or potential hazard to persons using a public road and that it is does not obstruct or interfere with the safe use of a public road or the maintenance of such a road. Where a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation is a hazard or potential hazard to persons using a public road, or where it obstructs or interferes with the safe use of a public road, a road authority may serve a notice in writing on the owner or occupier of the land in question requiring the preservation, felling, cutting, lopping, trimming or removal of such tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation within the period stated in the notice.

However, I can inform Deputy Jim Daly that I am examining the prospect of developing a new social employment scheme in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in conjunction with my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. This could involve participants, who are unemployed at present, carrying out some of the work that is the subject of the topical issue raised by the Deputy. I hope the Minister, Deputy Burton, and I will be in a position to agree this scheme in the coming weeks with a view to having it rolled out in 2013.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response, which I appreciate. I assure him that irrespective of the figures for County Cork as a whole, the good people of west Cork, albeit not because of my voice or representation of them, are well up-to-date in respect of their household charge payments. Were the figures to be broken down, the Minister would find them to be highly impressive. Notwithstanding that, I do not appreciate being pushed around from one Department to another, of being obliged to deal with the intricacies of the matter and of trying to find out who is responsible. I wish to bring the matter to the attention of the House and in particular, to the attention of the Executive running the country at present to get it dealt with.

I would greatly welcome an opportunity to have an input into the scheme proposed by the Minister. I proposed such a scheme to the previous Administration numerous times, when I referred to the social employment scheme and the number of people who were willing to partake in community projects and who would love to have something for which to get up in the morning but who unfortunately do not have a job to attend. Consequently, I would be anxious to see something like this because ultimately, an area like west Cork relies heavily on tourism and on the appearance of the countryside. In addition, there also is a leisure, health and safety aspect and while people are being encouraged to walk, it is not possible on many roads. Consequently, at a time like this of disappearing revenues, which many Members appreciate and understand, one can be creative, imaginative and more proactive in one's determination to get more for less. Basically, this is what I seek in this regard.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Briefly, I indicated to the Deputy that the road authority has the power to require the owner or occupier of the land to remove or trim the ditches on the side of the road as well. Consequently, it is not simply a matter for the local authority. However, the Deputy should use his good offices to make representations to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to support the scheme the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, and I are trying to develop and perhaps to add some funds to the scheme to make it more attractive for local authorities, thereby ensuring more participants in such a scheme in the future.