Seanad debates

Thursday, 2 March 2017

Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

10:30 am

Photo of Fintan WarfieldFintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I sympathise with the former Minister of State, Senator Kevin Humphreys, who spoke about the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, to whom I spoke in a committee room yesterday when I expressed concern about this Bill. He responded in the most amazing way by saying he was glad that I was not from rural Ireland because if I was, I would actually understand it. I suspect that, in contrast to the Minister of State, I have actually read the Bill. I told him that I was not referring to hedgerows along the roadside which is what he said the Bill was about. That kind of parochial language and the presumption that I am not interested in rural Ireland are extremely insulting to a political activist and someone who came to this House not in the interests of any one constituency but those of society. I am interested in what happens in all of Ireland. Today people in the North go to the polls. Sinn Féin's leader in the North, Michelle O'Neill, was Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development. In December 2014 she clarified the position on legislation dealing with the closed period for hedge cutting. Responding to calls from the Ulster Farmers Union for consideration to be given to further exemptions, she stressed the importance of hedgerows which supported a wide variety of plants, birds, mammals, insects and wildlife. She will potentially be First Minister or deputy First Minister following negotiations after the election. The Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, is not in a Department with responsibility for agriculture, rather she is Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. I urge her to appreciate the views of those Members who are arguing in the interests of rural Ireland based on their scientific knowledge and the knowledge of local authorities across the State that have strategies in place and scientific evidence which support our amendments. I urge her one last time to appreciate the amendments proposed.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.