Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the representatives for coming in today to give very detailed presentations. There is much food for thought for us. No doubt we will be going through this line by line as the Bill comes before the Houses. Mr. Fleming made a point that the requirement to submit a management plan is an unnecessary barrier to afforestation. I presume that if we had officials from the Department here today, they would defend it and say that there is a need for it. I ask the following question in ignorance. Does Mr. Fleming feel that there is a need for a management plan on the basis that things could have been done better in the past, or does he feel it is totally unwarranted? Or is it just the fact that the management seeks to be all-encompassing and that it could approve, reject or revoke? Is it too far reaching, or does Mr. Fleming see any merit in the provision of a management plan?

I can see the difficulty with the replanting obligation, and we do not want deterrents that will stop people from planting in the first place, but at the same time I can see the need for it. Perhaps a bit of tweaking is needed. We will take the other detail on board and work through it.