NEWSVIEW: Heritage Bill, Japanese knotweed and rural town regeneration

Rose Martin looks at the environmental side-effects of the new Heritage Bill, Japanese knotweed’s unfair portrayal, and the regeneration of rural towns.

THE changes to the Heritage Bill, which allow for the burning of vegetation in March and the cutting of hedgerows in August, and which passed all stages in the Dail last week, has been described as a “dark day for Ireland’s biodiversity by the Environmental Pillar. The Bill, which was introduced by the former Minister for Heritage, Heather Humphreys and supported by current Minister, Josepha Madigan, will operate initially as a pilot project throughout the country, a move which has no scientific basis, says the Environmental Pillar in a statement.