Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hate to come back to forestry again because we are blue in the face talking about it. The Minister says he is putting in the funding to reach the target of 8,000 ha but we will not reach it, no matter what spin the Minister puts on it. We need to be honest with the public at this stage and tell them we are not going to reach this. Does the Minister have confidence that we will reach that figure? I know he is saying he is putting in the funding, which is welcome across the board and nobody will give out about that. However, despite putting in the funding to reach that 8,000 ha target we keep talking about, and about which this committee keeps putting out messages to the sector, it is not going to be reached.