Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 February 2019
25. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if consideration will be given to commissioning a report into the environmental impact of the Heritage Act 2016, particularly the provisions in the Act which concern the extension of the cutting and burring season of hedge rows; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8501/19]
View answerSection 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 included consideration of submissions from interested parties, proposals were announced 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 relevant legislation was included in the Heritage Bill 2016, which was enacted in July last year.
Section 7(1) of the Heritage Act 2018 provides that I may make Regulations to allow the burning of vegetation during such periods in the month of March and in such parts of the country as specified in the Regulations. My Department has published draft Regulations and best practice guidelines and interested parties were requested to submit their views to my Department on the draft documents by 31 January. The draft guidelines provide guidance to landowners on a number of issues including rotational burning, that species and habitats consideration should be to the fore in planned burning and on the need to liaise with relevant authorities and local fire service personnel. Some 30 submissions were received and these submissions are being examined within my Department.
I would expect that I will be in a position to make a decision on whether to allow burning in certain areas of the country in March before the end of February which will take account of the contents of the submissions received and the weather conditions in the recent period on the basis of data provided by Met Eireann. In the meantime, the existing provisions in the Wildlife Acts on burning remain in force.
In relation to hedgerows, Section 7(2) of the Heritage Act 2018 provides for the cutting of roadside hedges only during the month of August under Regulations. I fully recognise that hedgerows are a very important wildlife habitat, providing food, shelter, corridors of movement, nest and hibernation sites for many of our native flora and fauna. The change in timing of cutting set out in Section 7 of the Act should not interfere with any of these functions. Ireland has some 300,000 kilometres of hedgerow mainly surrounding fields and properties across the country and only roadside hedges are subject to the provisions of the Heritage Act - a fraction of the entirety of the total hedgerow resource in this country.
The Regulations will therefore require that any cutting in the month of August may only be of the current year's growth; it should not involve the use of heavy flails. This aims to ensure that any birds nests that might still be active by August will not be at risk. It is the intention that my Department will carry out studies to determine what, if any, effects there are during the pilot phase. These studies will involve the use of control areas where cutting within the prescribed period in the Wildlife Acts can be compared with cutting of the current year's growth under the Heritage Act.
I would also point out to the Deputy that both the burning and hedgerow provisions will expire after a two-year pilot period, and it follows that there will be an ongoing assessment throughout the pilot.
