Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2019
603. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the introduction of regulations to provide for managed hedge cutting on roadsides and burning of vegetation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10358/19]
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.
I recently made a decision not to make Regulations to extend the season for the burning of vegetation into March. This decision was taken as there would have been no basis for me to do so given the fact that the relatively dry weather during the six month period when the burning of vegetation could have been undertaken under the law (September to February inclusive) would not have precluded landowners from burning vegetation. Therefore, 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. 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. I fully recognise that hedgerows are a very important wildlife habitat, providing food, shelter, corridors of movement, nesting 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. To that end, and to ensure that any birds' nests that might still be active by August will not be at risk, any Regulations made under Section 7(2) will require that any cutting in August may only be of the current year's growth and should not involve the use of heavy flails. It is the intention that my Department will carry out studies to determine what, if any, effects there are during the pilot phase.
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.
