Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here and for her engagement. As she mentioned, we have had a number of engagements and I must say she comes across as a very genuine and nice person. I am just not sure if the job she is in is the place for a nice person. She acknowledged forestry policy has not been working for anybody. She mentioned the industry and communities. Others mentioned sawmills and the other areas. The Minister of State said that the policy is not even working for her Department. Regardless of whether she said that, everybody else she mentioned lays the blame for the disaster that is Irish forestry at the hands of her Department. A good starting point for her would be to recognise there are systemic failures in the forestry section of the Department. That must be the starting point. If she starts anywhere else and unless corrective action is taken, mistakes will be repeated.

Will the Minister of State indicate what directions are being taken in her Department that would not be happening unless she ensured they were being taken and which her officials have been perhaps reluctant to take? That is an important point. The questions facing the sector have been well aired and I will not repeat them. However, fundamental issues within the forestry sector need to be addressed.

I would welcome the Minister of State's commentary as to how she intends to address them.

We have talked about the proliferation of Sitka plantations. We had Coillte before the committee. Unfortunately, we did not have time to hear its representatives' answer to Senator Boylan's contribution. The biggest forester in the country, the State-owned body, exempts itself from diversification of forestry so it has whole-scale Sitka plantations in replanting terms. It is crazy stuff and sets all the wrong examples. We have seen the backlash and the frustration that have been caused and we have talked about this in the context of a Bill that has been brought forward by Deputy Martin Kenny, which, unfortunately, the Minister of State opposes. That was a very bad start for her. As recently as last weekend we saw landslides associated with bad decisions that were implemented in the overall forestry policy. Above all, I have in front of me a headline from The Irish Timesthat was repeated all over the world: "Irish forestry 'net emitter of greenhouse gases'." We cannot even get forestry right in respect of the provision of an environmental benefit. If that does not spell out that we are on the wrong track, I do not know what does. A forestry policy must work. It has to be farmer- and community-led. Forestry is being handed over to corporations, essentially. In counties such as Leitrim we see an effective land grab that is forcing an end to traditional family farming in that county, and we can now see that that is developing otherwise. I would like to hear again the Minister of State's proposals on ensuring that forestry is genuinely farm- and community-led, with real input and a buy-in from farmers. How will she make that happen? I am not talking about Mickey Mouse consultations. I am talking about real buy-in.

I am trying to avoid the Chairman's eye. The Minister of State mentioned on a number of occasions that she will make an announcement on Thursday. That is the absolutely typical ploy used to entrap Ministers. "Here is a set of public relations engagements for you, Minister, while we carry on and do the real business." If the Minister of State is serious about bringing forward proposals, this, the agriculture committee, is the perfect place for her to have done so. Here she is talking to the people who represent those who are at the coalface of this. Instead she is trying to give an exclusive interview to the Irish Farmers' Journaland getting her photo opportunity. That is messing. I urge her to get serious about this. I have no doubt but that she is genuine about it, but she is playing with a very weak hand with the Department she has been handed.