Mr. Simon White:

I understand. There are measures that could be introduced. Most are encompassed in this type of scheme but the way that they have been put forward means that, for instance, the lack of premium would make a significant difference. The scheme introduces underplanting, which means, for example, leaving 40% of the trees and underplanting. That is a technique that has not been tried and, from our point of view as foresters, we know that if one underplants trees, those trees that are going to die will fall of their own accord, or we will fell them, and they will damage the trees that have been underplanted. The documentation states that this measure has been introduced to stop the spread of the disease and the rate of spread. It will do no such thing and it cannot because one is leaving trees from an infected plantation in situto carry on. Many of the claims made in the scheme are wrong. They cannot work. We know that, working on the ground, dealing with forestry.

Afforestation has become incredibly dangerous to workers. It is a dangerous environment. One needs trained people working with chainsaws. There is an idea that is easy to take out trees. It is incredibly complicated and expensive to get people trained. Members talk about the value of the timber that comes out of it. It is extremely expensive to extract timber from forestry. The cost of firewood is going down and people cannot get €35 per cu. m for it. That is infinitesimal money compared with what a forest is worth. Something has to be brought into the scheme to compensate for people's losses, to recognise the cost of measures to address the situation and the timing.

Everything has been kicked down the road. Nobody who has applied for the scheme has been granted permission to do it yet and many people are wondering whether it is worth their while going into the scheme. Everybody is waiting for the forest service to come up with something feasible, because it is not feasible for the people on the ground. There is significant anger and frustration among people on the ground and a feeling of being let down. There is also a feeling of despondency for anybody going into forestry in the future. Who would go into forestry to be treated like this? It is at a time when forestry and trees have so much to offer. We should be going down that road. The forest service brought in the Mackinnon report.

Cut me off if I am going on for too long.