# Hedge removal rules: what a breach costs your BISS *Published 2026-09-12 by FarmAI Ireland* Hedge cutting is legal again from 1 September. Hedge removal is a different job, and those rules did not reopen with the season. Under GAEC 8, hedges are landscape features you must keep for the whole calendar year. Only three exceptions allow removal in Ireland, and taking one out between two fields is not among them. Sanctions start at 3%. That distinction costs farmers money every year. Here is where the two rules sit. --- ## Cutting and removing are two different rules Cutting is governed by the Wildlife Acts. It is an offence to cut, grub or burn vegetation in any hedge or ditch between 1 March and 31 August. That closed period was set by [section 46 of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000](https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2000/act/38/section/46/enacted/en/html). From 1 September, trimming is open again. Removal is governed by your scheme conditions. Hedgerows have been designated landscape features since 2009. If you claim [BISS](/schemes/biss), you are obliged to retain them — in September as much as in May. So the season reopening tells you nothing about whether you can take a hedge out. Those are separate gates, and you have to clear both. ## What counts as a hedge under GAEC 8? Teagasc defines it as a line of shrubs or trees maintained as a barrier or a boundary marker. Three details catch people out. A gappy hedge still counts. If at least 20% of its length carries hedgerow species — briars and gorse included — it is a hedgerow. Briars on an earthen bank are a landscape feature too. A bare earthen bank on its own is not, though many are recorded national monuments with their own protection. Trees in a line, drains and ditches are all designated alongside hedges. A hedge starts and ends where it meets another hedge. ## When can you actually remove a hedge? The Department's conditionality handbook lists three exceptional circumstances, and nothing else: | Exception | What it covers | |---|---| | Building work | Farmyard expansion. Widening a gap for larger machinery. | | Road safety | An unacceptable risk identified by the local authority, the roads authority or the Gardaí — a laneway too narrow for modern machinery. | | Farm safety | Machinery access, or a gradient over 15% in arable land or 20% in grassland as flagged on your BISS map layer. | In every case the exemption is limited to the minimum length necessary. Then there is the line that settles most queries. The handbook states plainly: "Removing a hedge or a landscape feature between two fields is not considered exceptional circumstances." Making two fields into one is the single most common reason a farmer wants a hedge gone. It is not permitted. ## The replacement rule: twice the length, planted first Since 1 January 2023, where removal is allowed, you must replace the hedge before you take it out — at twice the length. Remove 10 metres and you plant 20 metres first. The conditions are specific: - Like for like. Only a hedge replaces a hedge. - Species typical of native hedgerow combinations in the townland. No laurel, no conifers. - Planted in the vicinity, on the same holding. - Not funded under an agri-environment measure such as [ACRES](/schemes/acres) or the Eco-Scheme. - Not inside the curtilage of a dwelling house. A new line of trees planted alongside an existing hedge does not count. Neither does a grove. ## Where the 500m EIA threshold trips people up Field boundaries in Ireland also sit under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations, S.I. 456 of 2011 as amended. These apply to every project, whether or not you claim BISS. DAFM's thresholds for restructuring a holding: | Activity | Screening by DAFM | Mandatory EIA | |---|---|---| | Length of field boundary removed | Above 500 metres | Above 4km | | Area restructured by removing boundaries | Above 5 hectares | Above 50 hectares | | Re-contouring within the holding | Above 2 hectares | Above 5 hectares | Two things about that table are widely misread. **It is cumulative.** The figures cover works in any one year *or* the sum over a five-year period. Two hundred metres a year for three years is 600 metres, and that is over the threshold. **Clearing it is not permission.** Staying under 500 metres means DAFM screening is not triggered. It does not make the hedge removal legal under GAEC 8. The EIA threshold and the GAEC 8 retention rule are separate gates. That is the trap. You measure the job, find it well under the threshold, and take it as a green light. The conditionality sanction can still land on every area-based payment you draw. Teagasc also notes the threshold bites at whichever comes first. Over 500 metres of boundary, *or* removal that would create a field over 5 hectares. Designated land is stricter again. Removal of any length needs prior approval from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. That covers a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area or Natural Heritage Area. Work within 15km of a Natura 2000 site may also need screening for Appropriate Assessment, however short it is. ## What does a hedge breach actually cost? More than most farmers assume, and across more than BISS. For a non-intentional, non-recurring breach, a 3% sanction generally applies. It can drop to 1% or rise to 10% depending on the extent, severity and permanence of the damage. A breach deemed minor may carry no sanction. Intentional is a different matter. Where the Department finds a deliberate act or omission, the reduction is at least 15%. The scale above that runs 25%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%. Repeat the same breach within three calendar years and a recurrence sanction applies. That is generally 10%, or 5% where the first sanction was 1% or 3%. Any further recurrence is deemed intentional. The percentage does not come off BISS alone. Conditionality sanctions apply to CRISS, the Eco-Scheme, CIS-YF, ANC, ACRES, the Straw Incorporation Measure and the Organic Farming Scheme. On a farm drawing several of those, 3% is 3% of the stack. Around 1% of CAP beneficiaries are selected for conditionality inspections each year. Between 75% and 80% of those are chosen by risk analysis rather than at random. The Department also runs the Area Monitoring System, the [satellite checking that has covered Irish parcels since 2023](/read/eu-digital-farm-mapping-2028). It uses that to spot feature removal and damage. It also says it frequently receives cross reports about hedge work. ## You carry the liability for the contractor Conditionality responsibility sits with the BISS applicant for the entire calendar year. It covers anyone acting for you or under your control — a contractor, an employee — and anyone with access under a lease agreement. If a hired digger takes out 60 metres that should have stayed, the sanction lands on your payment, not the contractor's invoice. Put the instruction in writing before the machine arrives. ## What to do before any hedge removal this autumn 1. **Name the exception.** Building work, road safety or farm safety. Between two fields is none of them, and no measurement changes that. 2. **Measure cumulatively.** Add anything removed on the holding in the last five years, not just this job. 3. **Apply for screening if you are near a threshold.** It is cost-free. EIA Section, Johnstown Castle Estate, Co. Wexford — EIAscreening@agriculture.gov.ie or 053 916 3444. 4. **Check your designations.** SAC, SPA or NHA means NPWS approval first, at any length. 5. **Plant the replacement before you cut.** Twice the length, native species, own funds. 6. **Photograph and date everything** — before, during and after. Satellite imagery does not record why a hedge went. ## Frequently asked questions ### **Can I remove a hedge between two of my own fields to make one bigger field?** No. DAFM's conditionality handbook names this specifically as not qualifying under the exceptional circumstances. Field size is not a recognised ground for removal, however awkward the smaller fields are to work. A genuine farm safety case is a different argument. That means a gradient over 15% in arable or 20% in grassland, flagged on your BISS map layer. Even then it only covers the minimum length necessary. ### **If I stay under 500 metres, do I need anyone's permission?** Staying under 500 metres means you do not trigger DAFM screening under the EIA Regulations. It does not make removal permitted under GAEC 8, which is a separate rule with no length allowance. You can be fully compliant on EIA and still take a conditionality sanction. Check both before any work, and remember the 500 metres is cumulative over five years. ### **What would a hedge breach cost on a farm in BISS, ANC and ACRES?** The sanction percentage applies to each area-based payment you draw, not just BISS. A 3% non-intentional sanction on a farm claiming BISS, CRISS, ANC and ACRES takes 3% off all of them. If DAFM treats the removal as intentional, the floor is 15% and the scale runs to 100%. ## Where to get help Your **Teagasc advisor** is the first call. Bring the field, the length and the reason before you commit to anything. For screening, contact the **DAFM EIA Section** at Johnstown Castle Estate, Co. Wexford — EIAscreening@agriculture.gov.ie or 053 916 3444. Screening costs nothing and the register of past decisions is published. For designated land, contact the **National Parks and Wildlife Service** before any work. If an inspection has already gone against you, there is a route. You have 14 days from the inspection to send further information in writing to the local District Superintendent. After that comes a review by the District Inspector, then the Agriculture Appeals Office. Our piece on [appealing a failed farm inspection](/read/ai-appeal-failed-farm-inspection) covers what actually helps at that stage. ## The bottom line The saw can come out on 1 September. The digger cannot — not between two fields, not under 500 metres, not at any point in the year. Getting that wrong costs a percentage of every scheme payment on the farm. --- ## Sources - [DAFM — Explanatory Handbook for Conditionality Requirements 2023–2027](https://teagasc.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DAFM-Explanatory-Handbook-for-Conditionality-Requirements.pdf) — The Department's own handbook: GAEC 8 exceptional circumstances, the replacement rule, and the full conditionality sanction scale - [DAFM — Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations](https://www.gov.ie/en/service/161a7-environmental-impact-assessment-screening-service/) — Official screening thresholds, the cost-free screening application, and EIA Section contact details - [Teagasc — Hedgerow retention: what every farmer needs to know](https://teagasc.ie/news--events/daily/hedgerow-retention-what-every-farmer-needs-to-know/) — Teagasc summary of what counts as a hedge, the exceptional circumstances, and the screening thresholds - [Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, section 46](https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2000/act/38/section/46/enacted/en/html) — The section that moved the closed period for cutting hedges and ditches to 1 March – 31 August --- *Source: [FarmAI Ireland](https://farmai.ie/read/hedge-removal-rules-biss-ireland)*