Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 May 2017
160. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the legislation that protects the relationship between the sharers of boundaries and the overgrowth of trees along same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20009/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe difficulties experienced by property owners arising from trees and high hedges on neighbouring land were raised in both the Dáil and Seanad during passage of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009. At that time, my Department consulted on the matter with the Law Reform Commission, which had been involved in drafting the 2009 Act, and the Commission took the view that unreasonable interference caused by high trees or hedges was a matter in any particular case for tort law or more generally for planning or environmental law.
In England and Wales, for example, difficulties arising in connection with high trees or hedges are dealt with under Part 8 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. This Act makes provision for local authorities to determine complaints by the owners or occupiers of domestic property who are adversely affected by evergreen hedges over 2 metres high. Broadly similar legislation, i.e. the High Hedges Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, came into operation in Northern Ireland on 31 March 2012. Under our existing law, a person may be in a position to seek damages or an injunction requiring the cutting of boundary hedges or trees under the tort of nuisance. In order for the nuisance to be actionable, the person concerned would have to show that an easement existed and that there had been a substantial interference with that right.
The manner in which problems associated with high hedges and overhanging trees are resolved in both England and Wales and Northern Ireland indicates a clear preference for the resolution of such disputes at local level, preferably by mediation, with recourse to the courts only as a last resort. This is intended to reduce the risk of prolonged and costly litigation, and the risk that court proceedings could leave a legacy of bitterness between adjoining property owners and ill-feeling in the local community.
The Mediation Bill 2017, which is currently before the Oireachtas, does not deal directly with the issue of overhanging trees and high hedges. It does, however, propose introduction of an obligation on solicitors and barristers to advise any person wishing to commence legal proceedings to consider mediation as a means of resolving a dispute before embarking on such proceedings. It will also provide that a court may, following the commencement of proceedings, on its own initiative invite parties to consider mediation and suspend the proceedings to facilitate the mediation process.
For the sake of completeness I should add that, under section 70 of the Roads Act 1993, an owner or occupier of land is required to take all reasonable steps to ensure that trees, shrubs and hedges on land are not a hazard or potential hazard for a person using a public road. The section also provides that where a tree, shrub or hedge is a hazard, or obstructs the safe use of a public road, a road authority may serve notice on the owner or occupier of the land requiring that action such as the felling, cutting or removal of the tree, hedge or shrub be taken within a stated period. In addition, section 58 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002 provides that a network operator may, after serving notice on the owner or occupier of the land, lop or cut any tree or shrub which obstructs or interferes with any physical infrastructure of the network operator.
