Deadline looming for landowners to trim hedges

Overgrown hedges and roadside verges can result in road fatalities and serious injury collisions.

Senator Robbie Gallagher says that it’s important that landowners remember to cut their hedgerows before the March 1 deadline. Senator Gallagher says that the latest statistics show 40 prosecution cases were taken for alleged illegal destruction of hedges last year.

“No one wants to see prosecutions so landowners and farmers should take the opportunity to cut their hedges now, both to avoid going outside the regulations and to make sure they are not causing a potentially serious road safety hazard,” said Senator Gallagher.

Overgrown hedges and roadside verges can result in road fatalities and serious injury collisions. They can pose difficulties for pedestrians, cyclists, trucks, and tractors carrying loads. This is particularly the case on local rural roads with sightlines at junctions or obstructions to road signs.

“The RSA is calling on all landowners across the country to remember the impact that overgrown hedgerows can have on other road users. Cutting, grubbing, burning or other destruction of “vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch” between March 1 and August 31 is prohibited. After 40 prosecution cases last year by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Department of Housing has hopes that fewer will be necessary this year.

However, it’s possible that the number of breaches of the law each year could be far greater, and the department has frequently warned of the dangers of starting fires in such areas in the past.”

“People are now much more aware of how important hedges are for biodiversity, providing food and shelter for animals. They act as corridors connecting habitats. An exception to the ban on hedgerow cutting between March and August includes a provision whereby felling can take place if it’s causing a hazard on a public road.”