Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests and I appreciate their time.

I said at the outset that I was short on confidence in the process and that, despite the best efforts of the Ministers and their officials over the best part of nearly four hours, I am afraid the mood has not lightened. The reality is that farmers, forestry sector producers and, indeed, the bulk of committee members have all expressed deeply held reservations about what we believe is a flawed policy. I was particularly struck by a comment the Minister of State made about conifers and their sequestration value. She said the policy was not wedded to the carbon targets and that there were other values involved, including amenity value and water quality, which are all very laudable. We are operating within an agriculture prism here but when members of wider society consider the cost of meeting the carbon challenge, they will see that the quickest and easiest solution for sequestering carbon is through the planting of conifers, as every school project or cursory Google search will show.

Dr. Eddie Casey, chief economist with the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, was on "Morning Ireland" this morning and reeled off the likely costs of our decarbonisation campaign for the next ten to 20 years. A carbon reduction of 50% by 2030, which is our target, will cost this generation and the future generation billions of euro per year. The council estimates the clampdown on fossil fuels, which is laudable, will cost the Exchequer €2.5 billion per year every year between now and 2030. The council also estimates that we face a potential cost of €1.5 billion per year owing to the shortfall associated with our retrofitting targets and associated projects. We will have to make good on this. On the basis of a conservative estimate, the decarbonisation plan to which we are wedded and committed will cost €5.5 billion per year. The easiest way for us to meet the targets is through plantation, including the plantation of conifers. It is a price that the public is willing to bear if they can see value and see that Government policy is pursuing the best options to ensure we meet the targets.

The public expect the Government, but particularly the two Ministers, to pursue a course of action that will ensure that the expenditure represents value for money. In the context of the budget that will be announced next week, expenditure of €5.5 billion per year is considerable and is a massive burden for this and future generations to shoulder. There is an onus on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Ministers to do everything possible to ensure future generations will not be burdened with excessive debt. However, the reality is that, at best, we will achieve a reduction of only 29% by 2030, as IFAC is warning. That brings us back to the point that we should be availing of every opportunity to ensure we will meet the targets.

It is probably unique at a committee meeting to have 90% to 99% agreement on the concerns regarding where we are going. The reality, as everyone here has stated, is that we are simply not planting enough. Despite the Ministers' best efforts to paint things positively and point to the changes happening, the reality is that the sector is in a stranglehold, a stranglehold associated with the Department. We have the worst afforestation rate in the country since 1949. The commercial forestry sector is worth €2 billion and there are 12,000 jobs at stake. The sector is on its knees. The Ministers and officials have been here before and have heard the committee's unanimous concern, perhaps with the exception of Deputy Leddin. I respect the Deputy's views and the fact that there can be different views but we desperately need to kick-start the industry. I have noted nothing in the ministerial opening statement or subsequent reply indicating something will happen in the next few months to kick-start the industry.

There is a most telling line in the Minister of State's foreword to the forestry strategy, which I will paraphrase as best I can. She stated we are moving away from an era of excessive focus on commercial forestry in which, too often, the wrong trees were planted in the wrong areas. My concern and fear are that this is an ideological excuse not to plant conifers, when now, more than ever, is the time to plant them in a balanced way with broadleafs, including native trees. We should plant conifers now but there seems to be ideological opposition to doing so within the Department.

At a time when we should be scaling up the production and planting of trees to support a transition in the construction sector, the reality is that planting is being hindered rather than helped. I ask the Ministers to reflect on the concerns and reservations of farmers, the forestry sector and the majority of members of this committee, as they have heard today, and recalibrate what is clearly a flawed forestry policy.