Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have six questions and I would like six concise responses. I welcome the Minister and the Minister of State, and I appreciate them attending. I also welcome the officials. More important, I want to welcome the people who have tuned in. While there are many people in this room, there are also many people outside this room who have tuned into the deliberations this evening. That is the level of interest.

We can be clear about one thing. We all want a sustainable forestry sector that can achieve commercial, climate and biodiversity goals and a reduction in the volume of imported timber; actively pursue timber options for the construction of new homes; improvements to the current licensing system, which is holding back the potential of the forestry industry; and maximise the timelines of every stage of every application in the process. We want a proper, slick, functioning licence system that responds to the demands and needs of the forestry sector. They are all given and I do not think we are fighting or arguing about that. It is important that we set out those positive issues.

When will the Minister fully implement the Mackinnon report in a defined timeframe? I took the time to look at the implementation of the Mackinnon report by Jo O’Hara from FutureArk Ltd. It makes very interesting reading, and I recommend that everyone reads the executive summary in it. He raises serious concerns about dialogue and engagement with all people in the sector. I will not go on about it, but it is important. At the same time, I acknowledge that the IFA, communicated with the committee and set out a seven-point focus they have asked us to look at. We will look at that and I want to acknowledge that.

I ask that the Minister keeps my questions in his head rather than coming back on each one. Is he supportive of the calls for a forestry development agency? It is one of the few natural resources we do not have. This would be an independent, stand-alone or semi-State development agency. Coillte is not a forestry development agency. It is a semi-State, but it is not a development agency. People in the private sector who believe and who have suggested to me that, rightly or wrongly, there is not a level playing pitch in terms of what Coillte gets over them. They produced sufficient statistics and sent them to us. I am concerned and I think the Government should look at that.

I made contact with a source in the Commission a few days ago who confirmed to me that, to date, no submission or formal state aid application has been made to the Commission. The Minister spoke last week about this going in in a few days when he briefed us in the AV room. The Commission can confirm that there is no formal, fully-fledged, teased-out state aid application before the Commission. Will the Minister confirm that is a fact? Will he confirm when he will be in a position to give assurances to this committee that it will be fully completed and ready? I am asking for a date for that.

Will the Minister commit to producing and giving a copy of that submission to the members of this committee? It is important that we fully understand what is going on and that there is transparency. On the one hand, the Minister told us last week that it could take up to eight months for them to consider it. The Commission has to consider it, it has to give a reasoned position and it will come back to the Minister on numerous occasions on it. This is seriously concerning. I said the other day that forestry is in crisis. I still believe it is in crisis and that is the reality of it. I acknowledge the Minister has made progress but we have deep problems.

I want to go on to the issue of planting licences. Can the Minister confirm that as of 31 December 2022, anyone who has availed or applied will be able to go ahead and plant under the new scheme? As of today, and let us deal in facts, the Department is not accepting any new applications to plant. I want the Minister to confirm that is a fact.

I will raise two other issues. The Minister signed up to the implementation of the Mackinnon report. It is interesting that in the programme for Government, forestry is only mentioned 15 times. I took out the 15 commitments or aspirations. The Minister needs to look at them. I will not give a lecture about that but there are issues and shortcomings in this regard. The Government is halfway through its term. How we is this going to be turned around in the next two years, although it may be far less than two years?

Will the Minister meet with the Social, Economic Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland, SEEFA? The association's representatives have written to members of this committee saying that they cannot get a meeting with the Minister. There have been suggestions that other bodies are similar to them or are under their umbrella group, but they are big stakeholders in this business and they have asked the Minister to meet with them. Will he agree to give a commitment to meet with this representative body?

Finally, I want to tell a little story. I was down with C.J. Sheeran in Mountrath, County Laois on Monday. This guy is churning out 10,000 pallets per week. He has enormous capacity in the wood business, in forestry and in every sector of forestry. He employs more than 400 people in the midlands. I met with him and saw his operations on the ground on Monday. I asked him what he knew about this meeting. He will be tuned in. I asked him to give me three questions to ask the Minister. He said, “Will you just tell them to plant trees, trees and more trees”? People are frustrated and they want the Government to drive the initiative to get the trees planted.

I have asked a few questions, the most important of which relates to the application to the Commission. It is not with the Commission, unless it has gone on out in the past ten minutes. It is not with the Commission and we need assurances on that. More important, we want to see the completed application and we want the Minister to give a commitment that he will be able to make that available to the committee.