Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are all on the one hymn sheet this evening. I am disappointed that no Minister is here to listen to us nor anyone from the Department. I state that because this is an important topic.

When we talk to farmers about forestry, they only shake their heads now. For too long and under successive Governments, we have been asking for some kind of grant assistance or to be allowed to plant on marginal ground. We are not allowed to do that, however, and there is no talk about the grant. It is necessary to plant 80% green ground and 20% marginal ground. We have been trying to address that situation for several years now. My father before me and now I and my brother, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, have been raising this issue for so long because south Kerry, especially, has much ground that is marginal for any type of farming, but it would be grand to grow Sitka spruce.

I heard Deputy Carthy suggesting we should have native trees instead of Sitka spruce. The thing about this situation is that native trees will not grow in the type of ground which I am talking about, while Sitka spruce will. We would have a saleable product if we were allowed to do what we were allowed to do before.

In 1950, my father starting working in the forestry with his spade and he learned to drive a bulldozer which opened up a lot of opportunities for him after that. I, too, have worked in forestry and I know that Coillte had difficulty getting felling licences for the last two or three years for ground where trees had already been felled twice. There was no problem getting the two first rounds of felling licences but felling came to a standstill for the third crop. The blackguards who lodged appeals and blocked the work are only one side of the story because the other side is the Department as it did not process the applications in the way it should have. The whole thing has been let go out of control. We went through all this the night of the debate about the new legislation that was brought in about appeals and I do not see the timeline having much of an effect. There is no timeline for how long it will take for an appeal to be processed. When a person gets permission to plant a forestry and gets a grant for the work then, God Almighty, sure there has to be presumption that one will be allowed to cut down the trees and make a road into the location. I gave my life making roads and there was no question in the world up until a couple of years ago and one was tutored on how to mind the environment. For example, one had to put in silt traps and the pearl water mussel had to protected. We did all of those things without the help of interfering people and now they get too much hearing.

So much of what we had has been dismantled such as the ridiculous move to shut down the sugar industry and the closing down of Bord na Móna. All recent Governments, including the current one, have dismantled what previous good Governments put in place and with all the technology and things that we have now it is backwards we are going. With the Natura impact statement and all these things Coillte and all of the forestry companies were able to deal with the environment. No one protects the environment more than the landowners, and without interruptors and interferers from between 200 and 300 miles away lodging applications to stop someone like the man who is a wheelchair user and contacted me over the last year and half. He planted his forestry 28 years ago and applied for a felling licence but people objected to him making a road into his plantation. The man wanted to use the money earned from selling his trees to adapt his house and ensure his family, wife and whatever youngster was with him had a bit of an income. The objectors are blackguarding, which is wrong and when it is wrong it is never right. These people who are getting a hearing put in several objections. One man lodged 144 objections in February 2019 so he should be carried to court and locked up.

I am very grateful for the chance to talk to the witnesses. One can forget about forestry in Kerry, especially south Kerry now, because young fellas will not consider such work because they have seen all the complications. They will get no bit of a grant to plant marginal land. Such land is absolutely good for nothing. Deputy Eamon Ryan used to talk about planting trees and now that his Green Party is in government there will be no change and places with marginal land will not be planted. I do not know what the blockage is or the mindset but one must plant 80% good ground to be allowed to plant 20% marginal ground.

Where is the logic in that? Does the Government want to blow us out of existence altogether by keeping things at a standstill? If Deputy Carthy looks at all of the farms, and some time I will take him around south Kerry, he will see that most of them have the reverse situation with only 20% of green ground and 80% of marginal ground. However, one will only get a grant to plant the marginal ground if one has 80% green ground and 20% of marginal ground. I have raised this matter several times before of which Deputies Jack Cahill and Charlie McConalogue would be aware when they were members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. A case needs to be made for this set-up, otherwise talking about forestry is total baloney and codology.

I wish to say, as Mr. Cullinan is here, that there is a very important issue following the announcement of the move to level 5 because farmers will be unable to go into marts.