Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the section which outlines the Short Title of the Bill which is the nub of the concern being expressed. The title of the Bill is the Heritage Bill. There is serious concern about whether this is a heritage Bill or whether it contains components which make it an anti-heritage Bill or will result in a dilution of heritage. I welcome the Minister to the House. However, as the Minister with responsibility for heritage, the onus is on her to prove this legislation is driven by and serves the purposes of heritage at its core. It is not a Bill coming from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. It comes from the heritage side and that must be the threshold we cross. That is why I believe it is relevant that everyone is reminded of the issues of heritage in respect of the Title of the Bill.

We want to ensure we pass the Heritage Bill as a heritage Bill. It is unfortunate that there has been much confusion as well as direct differences in respect of what was said in the House during the last debate and the components of the Bill under examination today, that is to say, the text. For example, we were told there would be provision for one year of growth. However, the legislation refers to the destruction and grubbing of hedges. All of this clashes within the language of the Bill. The opportunity was not taken in the period between the last debate and this debate to put forward more substantial Government amendments to clarify the exact purpose and intent of the Bill.

There has been an interim period, during which people have had ample opportunity to engage and work with others across the House as well as civil society groups to put forward amendments to address issues. For example, we constructively engaged on the proposal of road safety. I do not intend to speak to it because I know we will come to vote on it and we have debated it at length. We put forward real proposals to address the important issue of road safety and to strengthen the existing adequate protections. Section 17 enforces these provisions further. However, we hear that people in Fianna Fáil are sending letters on the road safety issue. If road safety is a core component of concern to them, where are the amendments from Fianna Fáil to address road safety? An opportunity has been missed not only by the Government but by our colleagues in Fianna Fáil, unfortunately, in respect of addressing road safety. Excellent ideas have been floated, even by members of Fianna Fáil, around limiting the hedgerow cutting to the road side of roadside hedges. We heard that proposal. The Minister needs to follow through and demonstrate whether that is her core concern. I appeal to the Minister to narrow down, delve into the detail, as we have done, and try to improve this legislation in order that we can stand over the Title.

I will not go into our pilot. We will debate the matter later. However, it is an example of what a heritage Bill would look like. The Bill should look to reflect all the obligations under the various heritage related Acts as well as the many national and international environmental, social and other heritage acts to which we have signed up. They would be visible in a heritage Bill. New measures would also involve rigorous and appropriate baseline work.

It is disappointing that the proposals put forward by us have not been matched by proposals from the Minister. We have specified that the Minister is responsible for heritage matters and we urged her in our previous discussion to discuss these matters with her fellow Ministers, not only in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but also in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment as well. I would appreciate if the Minister would let us know how these conversations unfold and how she has put the heritage case to them.

I will come to a conclusion presently because I know we need to move to the section.