Hedge cutting concerns raised

People are being urged, where they see roads on which hedges need to be cut in the interest of road safety, to report the locations to Cavan County Council.

Cllr Winston Bennett (FG) made the call at the September Ballyjamesduff Municipal District meeting.

The Ballinagh man said a lot of good work was done cutting hedges and trees in the area but there were still some by-roads where work needed to be done.

The hedge-cutting season runs from September 1 to February 28, outside of which the cutting of hedges is strictly not permitted by law.

Senior executive engineer John McGahern of Cavan County Council said that, if councillors had concerns over hedge-cutting, they should be raised at the next general meeting of the local authority.

Ash Dieback

The dangers of not having a scheme to assist landowners in cutting down trees infected by Ash Dieback was also highlighted.

Cllr Trevor Smith said he was aware of two Government schemes to assist farmers with the cutting of trees with Ash Dieback, but this was only applied to Ash trees in plantations.

He said that no scheme existed for those who have trees alongside roads. Cllr Smith said he knew of a man with 10 trees infected and it could be a costly exercise to remove them.

Ash dieback is a serious disease of ash trees caused by an invasive fungal pathogen. It was first detected in Ireland in late 2012 on plants imported from continental Europe. It's expected to cause the death of the majority of the ash trees over the next two decades.

John McGahern from Cavan County Council acknowledged it is expensive to take down trees. However he cautioned landowners against taking out a chainsaw to do it themselves due to health and safety reasons.

He also said the ESB is quite amenable and will move lines to assist trees to be cut safely.

Cllr Smith proposed a scheme be devised to help cut infected ash trees along roads. This was seconded by his party colleague Cllr Winston Bennett.