Mr. Fergus Moore:

As for the forestry side, Deputy Martin Browne is correct to say that low afforestration rates over recent years will have a significant impact post 2030. It is a major concern for us in the Department. Another Deputy mentioned afforestation rates being the lowest they have been for some time. There are a number of factors contributing to that. We planted approximately 2,000 ha last year. Our target is 8,000 ha. All of us in the Department are aware that that figure has to increase dramatically over the coming years. As we mentioned, in the climate action plan we have an 8,000 ha reference as our target. It is an ambitious target, as the committee will know, because we are struggling to get there. We are revising the afforestry programme at the moment. We are examining all the grants and premiums and looking at how those schemes are structured. On 1 January 2023, we will have a new forestry programme. We have a new forestry strategy as well. From the extensive public consultation we carried over recent months, with over 3,000 submissions received, generally speaking, people want to see more trees planted in the landscape. We have to try to see if we can marry that level of ambition with a new and energised forestry programme. Certainly, the ambition is to try to get to 8,000 ha. Every hectare we do not plant will have a significant impact post 2030.

With the calculations we have done in respect of the climate action plan, the contribution forestry will make between now and 2030 will not be very large because those trees are quite small and are not sequestering very much carbon. That does not mean we have to step up our planting now because, post 2030, as those trees get larger, they will start really sucking in significant amounts of carbon dioxide. We will have the 2050 target to comply with as well. Therefore, getting more trees in the ground now, in excess of what we are currently planting, is of paramount importance.

The focus of the Department and the Minister in recent months has been to look at the forestry programme. We have engaged quite extensively on the forest strategy preparation. We had a very encouraging workshop involving the forestry stakeholders last week at which we received a lot of good feedback. We looked at grants and the schemes, and giving support to our existing forest owners. Ash dieback was also referenced.

We need to have schemes that are fit for purpose, That applies to all our forestry schemes, because we need to start building confidence again. The licensing issue has been discussed regularly at this committee. We will not get into the stats of that, but the trends are certainly improving on the licence turnaround times. We need to ramp that up over the coming months.