Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in view of the fact Ireland has lost roughly half of its farm birds due to human activities if he will ensure that local authorities are made aware of the damage that can be done to numerous bird species by excessive trimming of hedgerows; if he will put in place guidelines to ensure that trimming is carried out in a responsible manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25187/11]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme has compiled population figures for common and widespread bird species across Europe between 1980 and 2009. Amongst those species covered, farmland birds were considered the most threatened group and it is asserted that overall numbers are at an all-time low, down by 48% since 1980.

However a review of the substantial amount of data available for Ireland, collected over the period 1998 – 2008 through the Countryside Bird Survey, shows that the vast majority (85%) of 52 species examined have either increased or remained relatively stable. Hedgerows are an important reservoir of biodiversity and habitat for birds and other wildlife during the summer breeding season. Under Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts, the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction by other means of vegetation growing on uncultivated land or in hedges or ditches is prohibited during the nesting and breeding season for birds and wildlife from 1 March to 31 August.

My Department writes each year to local authority managers reminding them of the need to plan hedge cutting operations to comply with the Wildlife Acts as referred to above, and to encourage in their organisations, an awareness of and guardianship of hedgerows as a rich and vital reservoir of biodiversity in our rural landscapes. Members of the public are encouraged to contact their local wildlife ranger and report instances where hedgerows are being destroyed during the prohibited period.