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

I am conscious of other speakers so I will not dwell on it. One thing we all agree on is that the Minister as the senior Minister needs to have a strong handle on the forestry section within his Department because none of the targets are being met. The rhetorical answers we get are very strong but the reality for people involved in the sector and communities, particularly the farming organisations, is very different. The backlog is extending and there are still very real concerns about whether we will meet the target of 8,000 ha of afforestation any year over the lifetime of the next CAP unless we see some really substantive measures.

I have some points about some of the figures. Under B12, there are savings of €250,000 against a budget of €601,000. The Minister mentioned that it related to market volatility. Could he explain what that scheme relates to?