Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is about the right tree in the right place. There is no doubt, if you go back, that trees were planted in places that were not appropriate. It would have been monocultural, and in terms of buffer zones and so on, it would bear no resemblance to what we now have in place. Coillte has been at the forefront of changing that in terms of the blend of deciduous broadleaf trees versus conifers. Our new forestry programme now also has a 50-50 requirement for broadleaves versus conifers. However, you really need that mix. Both of them have a strong role to play in building our timber industry. We need that wood if we are going to displace higher carbon inputs into housing and building and use wood instead. If we are going to use wood in building and reduce our need for concrete, for example, we need to have the trees growing and to replenish them.

Continuous cover is also a key part of our new forestry programme. As with every aspect of life and the economy, what we know now is a million miles ahead of what we knew 20, 30 or 40 years ago. Therefore, the approaches we are taking are entirely different.