Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here. We are where we are. We all know where we are and why we are where we are. We probably should have had this meeting decades ago. However, we are here now. The committee is seeking guidance on what positive actions can be taken, the starting point being the Citizens' Assembly recommendations which the witnesses have referenced and quoted. This is only the second hearing on this issue. I can almost rhyme off the targets in respect of where we need to be by 2020, 2030 and 2040. In terms of the committee's work, I would like to hear more about where we should start and what should be prioritised because these are the issues on which we will need to make decisions. We are a country dependent on agriculture, which some say is carbon efficient and others say is not but in the absence of it being carbon neutral, there is a problem. We have to incorporate where we are into the solution. We have to consider the 300,000 employed, directly or indirectly, by the agriculture industry. Afforestation of all agricultural land will result in job losses, which will have a knock-on effect on the economy in terms of tax take, which would lead us to square -1 in that we will not have the resources do many of the things that are desired or requested.

On Coillte, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. St. Ledger that it leaves a lot to be desired. In regard to afforestation, when balancing the books on emissions versus sequestration or mitigation, is only the 7% Coillte registered land taken into consideration or are all hedgerows, sporadic trees, forts and overgrown areas on practically every farm taken into consideration? Has any analysis been done of the average size farm in Ireland, including hedgerows, taking into account the method of farming, or are we, when speaking about trees, speaking about officially recorded forests? Generally speaking, are we not seeing the forest for the trees?