Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of these amendments is to insert prioritisation of the protection of ancient woodlands into the Bill. Section 2 pertains to definitions, and obviously it is necessary to define "ancient woodlands". Later on, amendment No. 19 relates to a section containing a list of responsibilities for the Minister regarding what he or she should prioritise. It proposes that the issue of prioritising the protection of ancient woodlands must be spelled out specifically because a matter of major concern for quite a number of people has been that the ancient woodlands have not been protected but in fact have been devastated over a long time. The protection of the ancient woodlands is very important from an environmental and a biodiversity perspective. Moreover, from a heritage point of view and in so far as people are attracted to this country for activities such as tourism, it is precisely because of that ancient woodland heritage, much of which has been devastated. As we have failed to protect it, it is important to include such protections in a new forestry Bill and that it be a specific priority for the Minister to protect ancient woodlands. Obviously, one must first know what they are, and consequently they must be defined at the beginning of the Bill. This proposal is fairly self-evident and I hope the Minister of State will support it.