Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson and the Senators for the invitation to speak and their passionate input into their questions and statements. This issue has been discussed at length since I took office and continues to be discussed. After a little over two years, we are getting to a stage where the sector is in a much healthier position and state. We are about to embark on a new strategy for trees, woodlands and forestry in Ireland over the next decade. The vision that extends to 2050 is about what we hear all the time - the right tree in the right place for the right purpose and under the right management. That management piece is important, given many of the concerning legacy issues regarding forestry. Another word that came up was "balance". That is where I see my place in striking the right balance so that we are delivering not only for rural economies, the climate, water quality or biodiversity into the future but also for people. That amenity value shone through in Senator O'Loughlin's remarks.

A number of Senators, including Senators Paul Daly, Carrigy, Dooley and Dolan, touched on the lack of confidence in the sector. We have seen that over the last few years in the low levels of interest in planting trees. It is now getting to a crisis stage regarding the targets we need to hit. We have announced the new programme and we have sizeable incentives in place for forest owners. We are relying almost wholly on private landowners to plant the trees of the future. We need engagement and confidence injected back into the sector. The Government has worked hard to deliver a lucrative incentive and reward for farmers. Farmers will now be paid for up to 20 years, as opposed to 15 years. Non-farmers will stay at the 15-year payment rate. We are trying to incentivise private farmers and landowners to plant trees. The variety of options now available to farmers should also make them have a look at the new programme and scheme rates. As I alluded to, the premium rates have increased quite substantially. There is a shift towards wanting to plant more native and broadleaf trees, but that is the direction of travel. That is where the direction from the EU is going and what our citizens want. Again, it is about striking the balance with the commercial sector and the need to continue to supply softwoods into the softwood sector. I spoke earlier about the need to increase significantly the amount of timber we use in construction, whether it is in domestic homes or larger builds such as schools and multi-storey buildings. The scope is massive. We need to work hard to deliver on that over the next few years and even the next decade. I would like to see that significantly improved upon.

I will focus on some of the specific matters raised. Senator Daly spoke about the comparison between the afforestation licences and the areas planted versus the felling licences. A felling licence comes with an obligation to replant. It is not like the lands are no longer used for trees; they are replanted. Afforestation is the figure we look at in terms of increased land. There may be individual examples of that not happening, particularly in areas that should perhaps not have been planted in the first place. Many of those are under State ownership. In the cases of many peatlands in the west, which are more than likely under public ownership by Coillte, forests have failed because they should not have been planted in those places. There are some good developments between Coillte and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. They will be transferring lands to manage them for biodiversity. Examples across the western seaboard include Coillte Nature delivering the wild western peatlands project and the collaborative effort by Coillte and Bord na Móna on the midlands native woodland project. There are movements away from poorly planted areas to areas that will now be managed with biodiversity.

The nursery sector is well aware of the situation. It is represented in my forestry policy group and in Project Woodland. I have visited nurseries. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, recently visited a nursery. Plantation rates have increased in FT 11 and FT 12. In the case of FT 11, the annual rate has increased from €590 to €863 per hectare. In the case of FT 12, the annual rate has increased from €510 to €746 per hectare. This is quite a significant increase in funding under those schemes.

A number of Senators brought up the issue of the single consent. Philip Lee does not agree with the single consent. The EU does not agree with the single consent process. At the end of the day, applications for felling licences are going to be decades apart. It is going to be a decade or more before one looks for a thinning licence and another decade or so before one looks for the final felling licence. It is not as if they all have to go through three years in a row or anything like that. The single consent is not going to work because things change - management changes and environmental law changes. We ran aground on that in 2018 and 2019. We will be back there fairly swiftly if we look at a full single consent. There is scope within the Phillip Lee report to look at mechanisms to make the process more efficient. We cannot avoid the requirements under environmental law but we can make them more efficient. That is what we have been working towards.

A number of Senators spoke about ash dieback. I was expecting it to come up because it always does. I want to look at it. So far we have had over 500 applications under the RUS, which was established in June or July 2020. I accept that not everyone is happy with it, but it is something I want to look at, perhaps in the new year. A Senator spoke about roadside trees, which are the responsibility of the landowner. The wider issue of ash dieback in our countryside is going to have huge impacts aside from the issue of plantation ash. We need to look at that.

Senators Ruane and Boylan brought up the challenges due to our forestry now becoming a net emitter, as it will continue to be, as well as the LULUCF challenges for our forestry and land use regarding peatlands. That is something we are cognisant of across government. It needs to be addressed. We need to get trees in the ground in the right place as quickly as possible to try to offset any of these issues into the future. I hope this programme will instil enthusiasm for planting trees among our landowners. It is worth saying that we currently have about 4,000 ha of afforestation licences issued this year. Between programmes, people will back off and wait for the next year. Potentially, farmers who are listening now have a licence already granted this year but will wait until January or February to plant. There are trees going into the ground as I speak. People are utilising the licences they currently have. People still want to plant under the current programme for various reasons. It has not entirely ground to a halt, but we need an injection of confidence back in the sector. A lot of that will come from the sector itself. There has been a lot of negativity around forestry in recent years. It falls on all of us, and not just the Government, to try to boost that. I have met many forestry owners over the last few years. I have even met happy owners, but we do not tend to hear from them.Perhaps there could be more positive stories about forestry and how beneficial it is. I have met a lot of farmers who are interested in planting legacy forests for the future for their grandchildren. It might only be small areas. Perhaps something like the 1 ha scheme might attract them but there is a variety of interests around forestry. We are trying to strike that balance so we get that right.