Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was going to speak strictly to amendment No. 2. I will not go extensively into amendment No. 3, which I believe we will be debating together.

I need to correct two key points for the record. We have had this debate and I do not think it is constructive. As a Minister for all of Ireland, the Minister needs to be very clear that it is not constructive to suggest or ascribe comments to the Seanad. Nobody here has cast any aspersions about farmers. That has been clear. We spoke as custodians. My colleague spoke as her father is a proud member of the Irish Farmers' Association, IFA. We have spoken about the interests of farmers, for example, horticultural farmers, those growing crops who are deeply concerned about the impacts of this legislation on pollinators. We need to be very careful and appropriate and not try to create division where division has not been sown in this House.

I would also like to make a technical correction. The Minister said "as all who would live in rural areas". All who live in rural areas and many of us who now live in urban areas are aware that the legislation is currently that councils can issue a permit which will allow the landowner to cut the hedge. The Minister suggested that councils can cut hedges but do not have the capacity to do so. The section 70 order allows a landowner to cut the hedge. I do not believe in this context that this was accurate. Let us be accurate about what the legislation provides.

That said, I believe there is a resource issue. It would be useful, as we have often said before, if we looked at places like County Clare and others where resources have been given to county councils to allow them to support the hedge cutting in issues of road safety. I acknowledge that my colleague, Senator Kevin Humphreys, kindly acknowledged the amendment I put forward along with my colleague Senator Grace O'Sullivan, which would have strengthened road safety. Our amendment is the only amendment to this legislation that is explicitly set out to strengthen road safety. It was to ensure that not only landowners would be allowed to cut hedges where they feel there is a road safety concern, but that individuals could do so too. We heard passionate testimony from persons with a disability about the obstructions for them. Any person who is a road user or a path user could ask for a section 70 order to be issued. It was a strengthening provision to allow road users who are concerned about road safety to ask for an exception. Where road safety is a concern, section 70 allows for cutting at any time of year, 365 days a year.

I wish to speak on amendment No. 2 and my other concerns around gorse-burning and hedges.