Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This debate has fuelled a view of people wanting to get involved in this sector. It has been a positive debate. It has not been a negative debate in many regards but it has broadened out. This debate has moved away from landowners and farmers only. The general public want to have a say and want to have an active role in the forestry that we have talked about in the context of the significant number of hectares required.

In the past few days, I have had conversations with people who have said that urban people are not actively involved even though they would like to have the opportunity to buy into forestry. Their view is that consideration needs to be given to how one buys into it. When we had the special savings investment account, SSIA, policy many years ago, the Government put a fund in place where one could save up and get involved. These were people working in factories and elsewhere, but they had a social responsibility. Should the State work with communities to put a social responsibility fund in place that could be a part of this fund which could form part of the long-term delivery of our climate goals? Could we look at something like that so that we can have everyone involved because this debate sometimes gets narrowed to landowners, farmers or agents? The general public, such as the person working in Eli Lilly, wants the opportunity to be involved too. Can we broaden this out?