Your hedge-trim ban is ‘clueless’, Minister

TD claims Madigan’s eco move will put lives at risk

A DECISION by Heritage Minister Josepha Madigan to ban roadside hedge-cutting during August will endanger motorists’ lives in rural Ireland, Independent TD Mattie McGrath has claimed.

The outspoken Tipperary deputy said the minister’s decision not to enact part of the controversial Heritage Act 2018 in order to protect nesting birds and other wildlife was ‘clueless’.

‘This is an anti-democratic, dangerous and ill-conceived concession from a minister and a government who are proving yet again that they are totally clueless about the reality of living in rural Ireland,’ he said.

‘The way the minister has approached this issue is to suggest that farmers or landowners have been, or will be, going out of their way to deliberately destroy the natural habitats of ‘Dangerous’: Mattie McGrath nesting birds in hedgerows.

‘Nothing could be further from the truth,’ Mr McGrath said.

Under existing laws, landowners and local authorities may cut back roadside hedgerows only between September and February, but the legislation passed last year would have given the minister discretion to allow cutting in August of 2019 and 2020, which wildlife campaigners said would kill nesting birds and pollinators at a time when Ireland has declared a biodiversity crisis.

Mr McGrath, who has campaigned for drink-driving limits to be relaxed in order to protect the social and economic fabric of rural Ireland, said that the Dublin Rathdown TD’s U-turn on August cutting would lead to road deaths in rural Ireland.

‘Now the minister has yielded to pressure from groups that are more concerned with the safety of birds than preventing tragic and avoidable accidents due to dangerous or excessive hedgerow growth,’ Mr McGrath said.

‘This demonstrates yet again that Minister Madigan has absolutely zero sense of the urgency surrounding this matter for rural Ireland. How the minister and her officials have utterly failed to grasp that this is an immediate public health risk is beyond me.’

Ms Madigan’s announcement earlier this week was welcomed by An Taisce, Birdwatch Ireland and the Irish Wildlife Trust, who said hedge-cutting would have harmed late-nesting species such as the yellowhammer, while depriving bees and butterflies of a valuable food source. A petition against the passing of the Act gathered 30,000 signatures.

Ms Madigan said: ‘It’s clear from recent international and national studies on biological diversity that nature needs greater protection.’ She said that under the Roads Act 1993, landowners would still be able to take ‘reasonable steps’ throughout the year to cut back growth that posed a danger.

An Taisce natural environment officer Dr Elaine McGoff welcomed the move, saying: ‘This is great news for hedgerows in 2019, but we would like to see a guarantee that hedgerow cutting in August will not be permitted in other years.’

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‘An immediate public health risk’