Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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302. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the legislation on the time for burning will be completed; and if the time will be extended in 2017 to 31 March, in view of the wet and damp weather prevailing and further delays will lead to overgrowth and risk of fire spreading in future years. [15095/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts 1976, as amended, prohibits the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation, with certain strict exemptions, from 1 March to 31 August.

Following a review of Section 40, which involved, inter alia, consideration of submissions from interested parties, I announced proposals in December 2015 to introduce legislation to allow for managed hedge cutting and burning at certain times within the existing closed period on a pilot two year basis. The legislation required to allow for these pilot measures is included in the Heritage Bill 2016, which was published in January 2016.

The Bill is currently at Committee Stage in Seanad Éireann. In the meantime, the existing provisions relating to Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts remain in force.