Results 5,361-5,380 of 7,283 for speaker:Josepha Madigan

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: During this process, my Department received almost 190 submissions ranging from detailed ones to individual brief points of view. Stakeholder groups such as BirdWatch Ireland, An Taisce, the IFA, the ICMSA, Departments and local authorities were among those to respond. The working group established within my Department considered the issues raised in the submissions and its own experience...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: The information is incorrect. On amendment No. 22 in the name of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, I appreciate and welcome his common sense on this issue on an overall basis. There are provisions under section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 which oblige landowners to ensure a tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation on their land is not a hazard to road safety. In addition, there is a provision which...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: We have spurred into the territory of section 8 in this debate. Landowners must have clarity and we cannot allow a situation to stand in which a person complying with an obligation under the Roads Act is in contravention of the Wildlife Act. That is not right or fair. The Roads Act is absolutely clear. A landowner is obliged to deal with vegetation that is a hazard. He or she has no...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: I understand that many of the birds have left by August. Compliance with regulations should never involve the use of heavy flails. This will mean that any birds' nests that might still be active in August would not be at risk. There is another important fact that must be remembered, and it is a fact that can be lost sometimes. It is an offence under the Wildlife Acts, under section 22, to...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: August has the lowest probability of impact on birds. It is the end of the growing season. We have done the review. As I stated, this is a highly regulated managed two-year pilot period, the impact of which will be measured. Our experts will overview it. In August 2018, because of the snow, hedges will not have been cut for seven months. We need to bear that in mind as well. If one...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: I thank the Deputy, but I will not accept the amendment. He is proposing to delete section 40(2) and replace it with new provisions. The existing section 40(2) sets out the exemptions referred to in section 40(1) prohibiting the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation from 1 March to 31 August. The exemptions include works carried out in the ordinary course of agricultural...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: In short, the Wildlife Acts allow councils to cut hedges, whereas the Roads Acts oblige landowners to do so for road safety reasons. In essence, section 8 is trying to harmonise the Wildlife Acts and the Roads Acts to eliminate the confusion that has been caused during the years on this issue. I have already addressed the issues related to hedgecutting in the month of August. I have...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: It applies all year round. As I said, the proposal seeks to harmonise the provisions of section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, as amended, with the provisions of section 70 of the Roads Act 1993. It is not a freehold ability but regulation. I am accepting the strong advice of the Attorney General that this provision should be introduced.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: Section 8 will apply all year round.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: It is a policy decision.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: The idea that anyone would propose that the conflict between the Roads Acts and the Wildlife Acts should continue is preposterous. The advice the Attorney General has given is that they need to be aligned. That is why we are undertaking this measure.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: We have already had a public consultation process. The nesting season now occurs earlier, as reflected in the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000 which provided for an earlier start to the closed season. That Act should also have provided for the closed season to end on 31 July in line with nesting patterns. As Deputies will be aware, August is a busy farming month. As many farmers harvest...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: Section 7 mainly deals with August provisions and section 8 provides for hazards all year round. As we have already discussed, these provisions detail the regulations for the trimming of the current year's growth. There is a balance of consideration here. I have been advised by the experts in the National Parks and Wildlife Service in this regard. The consultation has been public with 188...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: In reply to Deputy Ó Cuív on the advice of the Attorney General, as I have said previously, the Roads Act states that one must do something with a particular branch hanging out over the road because it is dangerous and could cause an accident. On the other hand the wildlife legislation states that if this is during the closed period, the hedge cannot be touched. Section 8 merely...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: The landowner can also do it.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: Yes.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: It is effectively a harmonisation of the Roads Act 1993 and the wildlife legislation because at the moment there is an anomaly between the two. We need to have the legislation aligned and this is why we are addressing it in this section.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: Yes. We mentioned some of this earlier on.

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: That is all right. I only said that to make Deputy Ó Cuív aware. In his absence, Deputy Tóibín raised the same issue. We have the full support of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport on section 8 of the Bill. Deputy Eamon Ryan referred to statistics. If 19% of our hedgerows are roadside hedges, in August only the road-facing side of the hedge can be cut...

Select Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Josepha Madigan: It is 6.33%. That is our calculation, if 19% of hedgerows are roadside hedges.