Mr. Francie Gorman:

It was raised on numerous occasions. I would not say it was raised at every meeting. It is funny; during elections, you see different issues in different parts of the country but the same issues were coming up, whether in west Cork, Donegal or south Leinster. The forestry issue did come up. There is great frustration at the inability to get licences to harvest crops in a timely fashion. There is a requirement to replant once farmers harvest but they do not have confidence to plant extra new ground. The set-aside for hardwood and biodiversity means that they are essentially giving away 35% of the land they are going to plant. Farmers will not do that. As I said earlier, even with the €1.3 billion forestry programme, there is a fear that this will not be accessed by ordinary farmers, but by big business. The Department has to look at that again and to address the issues that have come up time and time again. The ash dieback review has been going on for more than a decade. It has reported and the recommendations are there but, four months on, they have not been acted upon. The Deputy mentioned how slowly things move in the political arena. Before he came in, Senator Boyhan mentioned the same issue.. That is not good enough. People have been waiting a decade for that issue to be addressed. The Department set up its own review. It has now reported and those measures should be implemented immediately. If that issue and the issue we are here for, the bark beetle, are not addressed, farmers will not have the confidence to join the forestry programme and plant their land. There are other options.