Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The period of six months for notification of the destruction or removal of a forest estate by fire or other natural causes is considered reasonable and it is not proposed to reduce it. Forests, by their nature, are generally located in remote areas and damage may not always be immediately noted by the landowner. In many instances, landowners do not live close to their forests and to impose a one month notification period would place unreasonable demands on such landowners to monitor their properties on a monthly basis. The six month period is considered to be a reasonable length of time within which notification should be given and, for this reason, I cannot agree to the amendment. There are many reasons one month is not sufficient. For example, a person may be away on holidays. One month is not a long period of time. On consideration of the matter, we thought the fairest and best period was six months.