Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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377. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the negative impact on the welfare of the bee population, if there is an extension of licences to cut hedgerows into the month of August as proposed in the Heritage Bill 2016; if her Department conducted any study to determine the potential environmental knock-on effects of reducing the bee population due to this measure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11212/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Regulations that I am proposing to make on the extension of hedge cutting into August will confine the extension to hedges on roads and internal fields on a farm where re-seeding or tillage is occurring. The Regulations will provide for limited managed hedge cutting, under strict criteria, during August to help tackle the impact overgrown hedges can have on road safety. With these restrictions and conditions in place, the expert advice of my officials is that the overall impact of limited, managed hedge cutting in August on the bee population will be minimal.

I understand that for most hedgerow plant species, flowering is largely over by August. The main hedgerow nectar resources will have been provided earlier in the year by species such as willow, blackthorn and hawthorn.

Furthermore, the Heritage Bill provides for a ‘sunset clause’ in that the provisions allowing hedge cutting in August are only in force for a pilot phase of 2 years and can only be extended by the Oireachtas. The National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department will be tasked with monitoring activity under the proposed new provisions and an assessment of any impacts will be carried out before any decision is taken on continuing the measures beyond the 2 year pilot phase.

I will also be issuing guidelines on hedge management along with the proposed Regulations; and these guidelines will advise that the best practice for hedge management is a 3–year or longer cycle of cutting.