Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and her officials for coming before the committee today to discuss a real crisis in the forestry sector. My serious worry is for the 400 to 500 jobs in west Cork that are on the line. Many of these people are worried about losing their jobs. We find ourselves in the astonishing situation where we are looking to bring in timber from another country.

I have a few questions for the Minister of State. I understand that other members want to come in so I will not hog the airwaves as such. Why should any member of this committee or any member of the forestry and timber sector, a native industry that employs 12,000 people in rural Ireland, believe the Minister of State when she says that the Department is going to reach the target of 4,500 licences for this year? Only 1,900 forestry licences have been issued up to 23 July. In a response I received to a parliamentary question last week, I was informed by the Department that this figure is up by 25% on the same time last year. This is the regular line we have heard from the Department throughout 2021. It is a ridiculous defence when one considers the implosion in licence output in 2020. What miracle is going to occur in the final few months of this year to enable the Department to turn out 2,600 licences to reach the 4,500 target? Will the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and their officials please refrain from comparing the output of this year to that of 2020 in order to paint a rosy picture of improvements made on the output of issuing of forestry licences? I tabled a parliamentary question in early July that outlined while felling licences issued in 2021 are up 28% compared to 2020 figures, they are down 191% compared to 2019, which was the last genuinely comparable year. On a similar note, afforestation licences are up 8% compared to 2020 but down 28% compared to 2019. It is unfair and disingenuous in terms of covering up the Department's ineptitude on this licensing issue. It has to stop. The Department must be honest and compare like with like. It is down 191% on 2019 figures. That is the only comparison we can really make.

I spoke recently to a lady from the Chairman's area, Killenaule, about the ash dieback issue. This lady has spent the past 12 months trying to contact the Minister of State and her Department. She has issued a very warm welcome to the Minister of State to come and see the crisis she has found herself in and to see the ash dieback on her farm. This lady has met the Minister of State at the recent protest and she promised that she would visit. The lady has contacted the Minister of State again but she has failed to reply.

It is not a nasty welcome but a genuine one. She told me that if a farmer or anyone in farming has TB on his or her land, he or she is fairly and honestly compensated but if his or her forestry is ruined by ash dieback, he or she is not compensated. She is the Chairman's area, so he might like to accompany the Minister of State. Deputy Mattie McGrath has said he would do the same. They might like to accompany the Minister of State to this lady's farm to see the devastation this has caused and the fact there is no proper compensation in place for these farmers. These questions are genuine. This issue has gone on so long. It is causing serious problems.

I am also worried about the factory in west Cork and the sawmills in Enniskeane in that this will lead to massive job losses. I would like to be able to find out today that the targets we are to meet with regard to the felling licences will be met. Someone in the Minister of State's Department needs to talk and be straight up and tell the truth.