Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister of State could respond to me, I would be ever so grateful. The Bill, by its nature, in terms of what it seeks to do, could be argued to impose a charge on the revenue if you take some of those amendments that have been accepted. I refer to the interpretation here. I would love to have seen the advice of the Oireachtas officials in respect of this one. I wish merely to argue that every action in here and within this legislation where amendments are accepted could arguably impose a charge on the revenue. We find the decoupling of afforestation targets from this legislation to be extremely incongruous to the spirit of the legislation. If the Minister of State could give me some response or some words of comfort regarding the effect of afforestation targets - this is a major issue now - I would gladly accept those comments. Indeed, I would gladly accept any offer that the Minister of State might make for further engagement on the issue. Chair, I thank you again for your patience.