Mr. Andrew St. Ledger:

Regarding evidence for the model of agroforestry and integrating trees into farms, there is a link in the Environmental Pillar's submission to a United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, and World Agroforestry Centre paper. It is not as specific as what the Deputy is seeking and is global rather than focused on Ireland. However, Ireland has one of the best climates in the world for growing, particularly for hardwoods. It has ideal conditions. That is the reason for our timber production model, with fast-growing non-native trees. That model served a purpose when we had low forest cover, but it is time to move away from it.

Bangor University in Wales, which is not too far away, has been working with a group of hill farmers in similar conditions to Ireland's.

It has researched and shown amazing results by having only 5% specifically targeted small groups of trees on a 1,000 ha model area. This research, which is ongoing, is applicable to Ireland. In terms of forest policy in general, there would be papers from Austria and Switzerland on close-to-nature, continuous cover, longer term mixture coppicing and standards for timber, which allows for continued timber production but with multiple benefits. The model we have chosen provides only a timber benefit, which is economically good for the pension funds and the bigger players but not the small contractors. They are not getting a good deal because they are being paid by weight and, having invested in expensive machinery, they are struggling, which, again, is damaging to our environment They need to be helped transition away from this model. There is research out there on the multiple benefits of a different model, but specific to Ireland, not so much because we follow a different model, which is an industrial fast-growing model.