Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's return to the House. I will confine my remarks to the section under review. I raised the question of distinguishing between different types of hedgerows. The Minister gave a commitment last week that she would consider this before Report Stage. There are many types of hedgerow. Senator Norris stated that 37% of all trees and shrubberies in the country are in hedgerows. When one breaks down where hedgerows grow, the statistics show that 19% of all hedgerows are fronting onto the road network. Tillage farmers who are planting winter barley put forward the argument for allowing them an opportunity to cut hedges in the closed period of August. If the objective of the Bill is to address the concerns in respect of road safety and the needs of tillage farmers, let us debate whether we put it in the Bill. To give carte blanchedoes not distinguish between the types of hedgerow. It is not being fair to everybody. Many citizens have raised concerns, not only to Senators but to county councillors around the country. We need to ensure that if we are debating public policy which will impact on wildlife and agriculture, we need to be clear about the pathway to where we are going.

Amendments have been tabled on hedgerows and burning scrub, but unfortunately the Heritage Bill 2016 covers three areas, aspects of the wildlife Act, the heritage Act and the canal network. Personally, I think this is a mistake. There should have been a standalone Bill to deal with the canals. Everything is being muddled up.

Farmers contacted me to question why I was holding up the passage of this Bill. I am not delaying the Bill. I am performing my role as a legislator to scrutinise legislation line by line, no matter how long it takes. If the Minister wants to bring the Bill to the House next week, we can go through it all week, sitting Monday and Friday. The Senators on this side of the House will not cause delays. We want to debate the Bill line by line and tease out all of the concerns and provide a balanced approach to the legislation.

There are issues in regard to section 70 of the Roads Act and I am not sure if this is the appropriate way to deal with the legislation. The first thing that needs to be enshrined in the Bill, whether it is done in this House or in the Dáil, is to distinguish between the various types of hedgerow. If we are concerned about road safety, we are only talking about the hedges that front onto roads. I think there are approximately 300,000 ha under tillage. Some tillage farmers grow spring barley, but it is the tillage farmers who grow winter barley who need to cut hedgerows. I am told that only affects 4% of the farming community. That is a small percentage and it does not affect other farmers. There may be arguments from the farming groups to look at other aspects of hedgerows, but they should put the case out in the open so that we can discuss it publicly.

The Minister gave a commitment that she would look at tabling an amendment on Report Stage to address the issues in regard to roads raised in the amendment tabled by Senator Grace O'Sullivan.If that is still the position, we have a major problem.

Section 6 deals with the regulations the Minister and her successors will make on hedge cutting. If the Bill is passed in its current form the Minister would presumably would have to sign a statutory instrument or regulation for the cutting of hedges in August. This House and the other House generally do not sit after the middle of July. If the Minister were to sign the regulation in early or mid-July, the 28-day period for consultation with the Oireachtas may not be possible because the Houses would not be sitting and the amendments would not come before us and yet the regulation would stand. There are issues of technicality on that. I have previously made this point on other Bills. If a Minister introduces regulations that are not specified in primary legislation, as is the case here, those regulations should come before the Oireachtas committee relevant to that Minister, so that they can be discussed before the 28-day period expires. It may mean that regulations for the August hedge cutting will have to be made well in advance of the Houses going into recess, which typically happens in the second week of July.

We need to tease out those practical elements because there has to be give and take here. Some of the concerns raised are very well founded. I do not agree with all the amendments and other people may not agree with my position. However, we need to achieve some form of balance which the ordinary citizen deserves. We have to take into consideration the issues with hedgerows relating to birds. I hope the Minister will accede to providing some leeway to satisfy the position on this side. She should fulfil the commitment she made last week by introducing an amendment on Report Stage or facilitate it in the Dáil. Any changes that might be made in the other House would ultimately end up coming back here anyway.