Council pleased with ‘positive’ hedge cutting meeting

Anton McNulty

THE IFA and Eircom are happy to work with the Council and other agencies to review the hedge cutting policy in the county according to a senior council official. 
Representatives from the IFA and Eircom met with officials from Mayo County Council earlier this summer to discuss ways of working together to solve the problem of hedge cutting in the county.
Director of Services Paddy Mahon told members of the Roads and Transportation SPC that the meeting was positive and the two agencies were happy to work with the Council in developing a new hedge cutting policy which will help solve the problem of overgrown trees and hedges. The ESB and the Irish Haulage Association were also invited but were unable to make the meeting.
“Eircom cut so much hedges to protect their infrastructure and are open to the idea of sharing resources and understand where we are coming from in the need to combine forces and improve efficiency,” he told yesterday’s meeting of the SPC.
Under the Wildlife Act, landowners cannot cut hedges between March 1 and August 31 to protect birds and is one of the main issues which concern councillors throughout the county.

Timeframe
Mr Mahon said the different agencies were to meet again and they also hoped to meet with officials from the National Parks and Wildlife service on the timeframe for when to cut hedges.
The co-operation between the different agencies was welcomed by members of the SPC with Independent councillor Seamus Weir saying that they ‘need to nail this [hedge cutting] once and for all.
Fianna FΡil councillor Damien Ryan said the issue needed reviewing and while adding that animals were important, road safety should take paramount.
Westport councillor Brendan Mulroy said the days of political point-scoring in getting hedges cut on certain roads was over and a more joint up thinking approach to the what areas should be cut was needed.