Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue that is becoming a bit of a bugbear for me. We are all aware that nationally up to one third of our wild bees are threatened with extinction. The Plantlife organisation in the UK has started to promote a No Mow May policy and strategy to try to get people not to mow their grass in May. I welcome that the National Biodiversity Data Centre, along with An Post, is sending out 2.3 million postcards to Irish residents addressing the same idea, namely, that people might just not mow their grass down. This is because dandelions, red and white clover and bird's-foot-trefoil are three types of plants that grow naturally in everybody's lawn and every area of wild grass without the need to add seeds. These are the best sources of nectar and pollen for our bees.

To get to the point, we need the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to come into the House to discuss this issue. I use the motorway from Dublin to Galway, the M4 and the M6. Every morning throughout the summer, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has closed one lane to allow for a big lorry, with an arrow on the back of it, to point drivers to the right because a metre-wide lawn mower is mowing the strip of grass on the left-hand side of the road.That is inside a hard verge and inside a shore to take away water. That grass is not affecting safety on the motorway in any way. If you do a very simple calculation and google the distance from Dublin to Galway and calculate a metre strip both left and right of that motorway, not even considering the centre, that is 95 acres - and that is just one motorway. That is 95 acres of grass that could be left for the summer months. Mow it during the winter if it will be a safety hazard for the following year. However, it does not need to be mowed down as bare and bald as the top of a chair, which is the way they are leaving it. It is a case of practising what we preach. The authorities need to start leading by example. It needs to come to the Department of Transport and TII that the grass is not a danger on the motorway. As I said, 95 acres on that one motorway to be left for the clover, the birdsfoot trefoil and the dandelion to grow must have a massive effect on trying to save our natural Irish bee.