Mr. Pat Glennon:

Ash dieback is something that would not affect our industry but we fully understand that it is a major problem with some of the farming community.

The current system to get trees in the ground is not fit for purpose. We believe that is the fundamental issue. We are talking about the new forestry programme coming in. What happened to the old one? The old one finished two and a half years ago. The Department got an extension for two years to have its ducks in a row to have it right. Here we are now at the start of the 2023 season and it is effectively gone because we are waiting to get an answer from Europe. That means 2023 will be gone. We will be no better at the end of 2023. If we hit 2,000 ha, we will be lucky. It is back to our fundamental issue here. We need to make it simple and easy for landowners in this country to plant timber.