Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am all about the hedgerows and trees, which I am always planting, but in some instances there is a need to do some trimming or lopping. Sometimes trees cause a hazard. My issue is that in many instances the first option is to cut them down. That is a huge part of the problem. Senator Ruane may agree with me when I suggest that cutting trees down should be the last resort. Trimming and lopping can be done by good tree surgeons. This might be a potential amendment to appease the Senator and me; we will now have biodiversity officers in every county in Ireland thanks to the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Malcolm Noonan. We need to rethink how we manage our hedgerows and our trees because too often, butchery happens. Cutting the tree down is quick and gets it out of the way. However, we really need to look at the possibilities of just trimming or lopping instead. By doing so we would not have as big an issue. Even if the trees are only 20 years old and they are a potential hazard we need to manage them but it does not mean that we need to cut them all down. I often get phone calls from people asking why so many trees are being cut down. Hedge cutters are doing their job but some of them cut down all the trees while others trim them. This is something that we will bring to Report Stage and I will work on the issue, which may appease Senator Ruane's concerns.