A Leitrim Councillor is calling for the roadside hedge cutting grant to be increased.
Paddy O'Rourke says the cost of hedge cutting has increased in recent months and he believes the payment must be raised from €75 per kilometre to €100 per kilometre to reflect this.
He acknowledges that Leitrim is only one of a few counties to run the scheme but it's important the grant is sufficient to ensure uptake.
Council officials say the payment has been revised since it began in 2017 increasing by 50% since its original introduction.
49 grants were paid out last season with 37 grant application so far this year.
The council says they will review the grant ahead of the next season in September and Councillor O'Rourke feels this is necessary.
The cost of doing hedge cutting has crept up.
Because of the smaller farm units that we have here in this county with road frontage, it's difficult enough to hammer out a price with contractors because in other parts of the country they might longer stretches.
As everybody knows and any engineer will tell you, hedgerows over hanging roads lead to additional costs in road maintenance whereas if they are removed, yo don't have that problem.
