Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and her officials for coming into the committee. I have been in Dáil Éireann for the past 18 and a half years and I have never seen such cross-party support on this specific issue. This is a major issue for everybody right across the board.

The forestry sector totally depends on the nursery sector. They have always been there to meet all the targets set out by Government. Two years ago most nurseries would have looked at the targets the Government had set out and they would have sown the sufficient amount of seed to meet the demands of the Minister of State's Department. Now, two years later, we will see nurseries throughout the country dumping millions of trees because of inaction. This is not because of the Minister of State. She has inherited a terrible problem. I do, however, blame her officials. The blame for their inaction and the decline of the forestry sector should be put right on top of their desks.

In 2010 the forest service made a decision to restrict farmers on the percentage of marginal land they could plant. To plant 20% of marginal land a farmer had to plant 80% of good quality ground, which I believe makes very little sense. I do not know why the Department would restrict suitable land to just 20% if it can grow trees. Industry stakeholders warned about the viability of the afforestation programme at the time as a result of the decision taken and, I have to say, they have been proven absolutely 100% right. In 2016 my former colleague and Minister, Tom Hayes, commissioned the Land Availability for Afforestation report. The report concluded that the COFORD Council identified, "A significant area of land suitable for afforestation (c. 220,000 ha) exists in this usage range that is not currently in farming, and which is outside the main environmental constraint areas." I have two questions on this issue. Who made the decision in 2010? What official in the Minister of State's Department made the decision in 2010 to impose these restrictions on farmers? Why was that decision made? If the Minister of State is not able to answer, maybe she will get back to me.

Considering the alarming decline in afforestation since 2010, what efforts has the Department made to bring any of this land back into the programme, given it is suitable for afforestation as recommended in the COFORD Council report?

There are a number of other licensing issues. I do not normally do this, and I have sat in the Minister of State's position as a Minister of State for nine years. I never welcomed a Deputy or a Senator coming in and tackling my Department, but on this occasion I must say that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is presiding over and has overseen the absolute destruction of this industry.

Representatives from Coillte were before the committee earlier and they used the word "crisis". I have never in my lifetime used the word "crisis" lightly, and they do not use the word lightly. It is a crisis at the moment. Would the Minister of State agree that a person who applies for a licence should have his or her application over the line within 120 days? I would say 90 days but most of the people I have talked to about this would settle for 120 days, be the application for thinning, for forest roads or for felling. If there is an appeal against that licence application, then it is within the applicant's right that the appeal should be heard within 60 days.

I submitted a parliamentary question to the Department on 14 October. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue's, reply was that, "As the FAC is operationally independent of my Department, I cannot enquire into an individual licence." I will give the history of this. The farmer applied for a felling licence, which was granted. All of a sudden it was appealed. To this day he has not received anything in writing from the Department to say it has gone into appeal. By chance, his forester mentioned it to him. I submitted the parliamentary question on 14 October, but to date he has not heard one word from the Minister of State's Department. Two weeks ago I picked up the phone to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine because of absolute utter frustration. The word we got back was we could be waiting for a year to 24 months for our appeal to be heard. That was before the extra appeals committees were set up.

I feel bad saying this, but having listened to the industry, I put it to the Minister of State very clearly that they are literally on their knees. They are looking for leadership, and I hope the Minister of State will provide the leadership. The Minister of State must get the backing and the support of the officials in her Department.

I am of the view that she has not been getting that, and neither did previous Ministers. This did not land on the desks of the officials on 1 January last, it has been going on for several years. The officials should have seen these problems arising. I feel sorry for the people involved, whether they work in the sawmills, drive the trucks transporting the timber, are tree harvesters or work in the nurseries. People from all those areas have contacted my office in recent months because they have seen the industry in decline. If we are to be real about carbon credits, etc., we must get real about the problems and face up to and solve them. I am sorry for the Minister of State, and these comments are in no way aimed at her. Her officials must listen to the industry and the problems which it is facing.