Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Vice Chairman. I am sorry I am late. Since the day this was raised at the committee, how much focus has Coillte put on resolving the problem? Has the communication been any better way? According to some of the farmers to whom I spoke, there is a real fear among farmers. If a private operator plants ones forest, one gets the grant at the beginning. The contractor gets the establishment grant. The farmer then gets the 15 year or 20 year grant in these cases. There are cases of which I am becoming aware where land has been planted for ten or 12 years and there may be some trees, especially in boggy ground, that have failed. Coillte has a responsibility to maintain these trees and if there is an inspection of them, those farmers are left wide open. It would have to go to an appeal, because their whole grant could be blocked. Has Coillte addressed any of those problems?