Overgrown hedges cause road rage

The Irish Road Haulage Association has said payment of any subsidy due on lands should be conditional on landowners properly maintaining roadside hedges.

Section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 places the responsibility for roadside hedge on the owners or occupiers of adjoining lands, but enforcement of this law is virtually non-existent, according to Verona Murphy, president of the Irish Road Hauliers Association.

She told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport last week that hedge maintenance is paramount to all road users’ safety.