The need for a temporary extension for farmers to cut hedges beyond March 1 this year due to recent wet weather conditions has been raised in the Seanad today (Thursday, February 22).
Senator Paul Daly said that due to inclement weather in recent months, land is “completely saturated” which makes it difficult for machinery to travel on fields without causing damage.
Under the Wildlife Act, the cutting, grubbing, burning or other destruction of “vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch” is illegal between March 1 and August 31, annually.
There are limited exceptions for cutting vegetation in the “ordinary course” of agriculture or forestry, the destruction of noxious weeds, and cutting roadside hedges for road safety reasons.
Cutting hedges
Many farmers have contractors to carry out hedgerow maintenance, but contractors have “fallen so far behind” that they won’t be able to complete all hedge cutting before March 1, Senator Daly said.
Contractors have concentrated on cutting roadside hedges due to recent wet weather and, in many cases, have left inside hedges for drier conditions which, the senator said, haven’t occurred.
He also raised concerns about the conditions in relation to hedgerow maintenance under the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and the deadline next week.
Senator Daly said that if farmers cannot complete their maintenance work, coppicing or laying of hedges, done before March 1, they will find themselves in a “catch-22”, and added:
“They will have, on the one hand, the question ‘do I commit an offence and do it after March 1’, or on the other hand, ‘am I going to be facing a situation where I am actually to complying with a scheme that I have signed up for’.”
Responding to Senator Daly in the Seanad today was Minister of State Thomas Byrne on behalf of Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan.
The dates are set out in primary legislation, the Wildlife Act 1976, and the minister has no power to vary them as they can only be changed by primary legislation, the minister of state said.
The senator now seeks clarity from Minister Noonan whether, under the expectation in the “ordinary course of agriculture”, farmers will be permitted to cut after March 1.
Hedgerows are “exceptionally important” for biodiversity in Ireland and the current closed period is based primarily on the nesting and breeding period for wild birds, the minister of state said.
The minister of state added that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is currently undertaking a multi-year project to review and update wildlife legislation.