The last time I was down this country road was during the Summer. Back then, it was ablaze with colour and life from all the wildflowers. There were mostly native trees along the edges. But, whatever time of the year, it’s always lovely down here. It’s one of those Irish boreens where there is very little intensive farming in the surrounding fields. There are a few houses but these nestle into the landscape as if they’ve always been there.
What about access?
I understand that people that drive down here want to be able to do so, without causing damage to their car. But this level of “hedge-trimming” seems totally unnecessary in my view. Obviously, it destroys the habitats of the local wildlife and leaves the trees and shrubs open to disease. As well as that, it looks terrible.
In the years to come, many of our small farmers will no longer exist as they currently do. It just won’t be a viable job for them, and many of them know this already. All we in the West, will be left with, is our wonderful and Wild Atlantic Way, or what remains of it. Tourism will become the new farming and if you want tourists to come down this road, then it better look a lot better than it does now.
What about us?
Meanwhile, we all sit at home watching programmes about gardening, recycling, saving the environment, about species becoming extinct and the wonderful diversity that still remains on our planet. Our local councils and the Green Party that currently shares power in this country all turn a blind eye to, and facilitate this vandalism occurring throughout the West.
Why are the powers that be not thinking about this and looking to the future. Why can’t they undertake hedge-trimming in a way that respects the local environment and with regard to nature, wildlife, the future and the people that live down here?
