Mr. Pádraic Fogarty:

I totally agree with the Deputy. It is a disastrous situation that we have come to, whereby we see protecting nature as being burden. I know that is how it is seen. That is a price we all pay. The reason for this is because of a series of awful policy failures that have made plantations of conifers more valuable than traditional farming and does not reward properly the farmers in these areas. This comes directly from the policies pursued by successive Governments over the past 20 or 30 years. I agree that it is a total disaster.