Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was unavoidably absent last week and for that reason I wish to take this opportunity to welcome my constituency colleague, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys. I did not get the opportunity to do so last week.

As a general point I suggest that the real and true custodians, those who have more than a vested interest in rural Ireland, are our farmers. I come from a rural community and I know this. With a few dishonourable exceptions the farming community of Ireland love the land, their environment and nature and they are the true custodians of these. I mean this and I am not suggesting complete deregulation or anything of the sort. What I am suggesting is that the House can rest assured that the farmers of Ireland can be trusted with the land and the hedgerows of Ireland. No matter what legislative framework is in existence the love of nature and the goodwill of farmers will endure. The passion and extraordinary connectivity they have with the beauty of the environment and the historical connection and the heritage that exists will ensure farmers will protect, by and large, our environment. Indeed, they do this on a daily basis. The take-up of the green low carbon agri-environment scheme by farmers and the execution of the GLAS scheme with such excellence is testimony to their love of nature and the land and their willingness to preserve it. Department report after report confirms this.

The Minister has made a number of reassuring points today. I can understand why colleagues might ask the Minister for further specifics around certain points. That is reasonable and fair enough. As Senator Ó Domhnaill has said, that is precisely why we are here. That is our job and there is no issue with that. The Minister made some encouraging and reassuring points. I suggest to the House that we should accept the bona fides of the Minister and she will go through further detail on it. The Minister said that we were only discussing the growth of the current season and that she was not facilitating nor would the legislation or any statutory instruments arising facilitate the butchering of hedges or major incisions into hedges in the month of August. That is not what is suggested.