Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

I do not think my explanation gave any one thing; I said there is possibly a number of factors. Of course, we must examine the programmes we have to see if we can improve them. Planting was higher in previous years and has diminished for a variety of reasons. We must examine all those reasons to determine how we reconfigure our forestry policy.

We will have a brand new programme from 2020 onwards and we will have to learn the lessons of the recent past in encouraging people to plant more trees. I accept that. We have a large number of very dedicated people in our forestry division who are trying to drive this programme as hard as they can. I assure the Deputy that we do not rest on our laurels when we see figures like 4,250 ha compared to our target. We have an obligation to increase that to 8,000 ha a year.