Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the new president of the IFA, to whom I say "well done" on a fabulous campaign. Looking from the outside, I never saw the IFA more invigorated and enthusiastic. Elections do things for politicians and the IFA. I thought it was an interesting and very engaging campaign. Having followed much of the campaign through various sources at a remove, it was clear that IFA farmers were out, energised and having strong debate. Mr. Gorman has set a precedent; may it continue. The IFA genuinely has a very important role. Like every organisation, it goes up and down in peaks and troughs but I detect a new energy around. I wish Mr. Gorman and the IFA personnel well.

Mr. Gorman clearly highlighted that farmers are on high alert over the spruce bark beetle. We are here today predominantly to discuss this particular challenge and issue. I also wish to touch on ash dieback, which I will do later. The IFA's statement, which it submitted in advance and we have all considered, contains a number of asks. Let us get down to the asks. We do not need to repeat or give anyone a lesson on the enormity of the challenges and economic impacts. I understand why the IFA is calling for a temporary suspension of the importation of timber from Scotland. That is a big ask. Many people will oppose it, such as the construction industry, particularly when they are looking at housing and other forms of construction, the Government is focused on the use of more timber in construction and there are challenges around lead-in times for felling trees in Ireland and around consistency of product and timber through the mills and the various processes. We need greater clarity on the implications of that such as the economic consequences. I understand the concern. Mr. Gorman has clearly led out with this as a call. I suggest that the IFA should look at that with other organisations such as IBEC and other bodies involved in the economics of these areas. I concur with the call to publish the implementation plan for ash dieback. It is now three months on and we have not heard anything. Things move very slowly, as the president well knows, in the forestry sector.

That is really important.

Again, I ask the IFA to lend its support to the concept of developing a national forestry agency. We have no national forestry agency, despite what people think. The Department is pursuing the whole forestry agenda, so some would argue it is favourably disposed to Coillte, but others would not The private sector says that is the case in its experience and how it is processing its plantation, road licensing, felling licences and all the various stages in the forestry sector. In this committee and these Houses, I have consistently called to explore the possibility of a national forestry authority that is independent of the Department of agriculture, and I hope the representatives could commit to supporting this or looking into it, at least. It should engage with all the stakeholders in forestry generally. I think that would be a very important step and one we should pursue.

We know about the potential risk of this beetle. I was in the UK before Christmas for a few days. I could see the devastation that was caused by bark beetle to the spruce in parts of the UK. It is scary. I have a question for the representatives regarding the numbers involved. They said in their opening statement that according to Ireland's national forestry inventory, spruce forests account for approximately 65% of private, grant-aid forestry, which is predominately owned and managed by farmers. That is the challenge. Many of those are members of the IFA. How will we support them? This beetle devastates forestry, and if that were to happen here, there are certain rules in terms of replanting. There are premiums that may be demanded back or reclaimed from the Department. There are serious challenges for it and farmers would ultimately be hurt. They would effectively be burnt and financially ruined as a consequence of this beetle.

Those are some points I wanted to raise. I commend the IFA on putting this issue on the agenda, for being here and for clearly setting out its stall. The witnesses might go back and look at the asks, one of which is on temporary suspension and the practicality of that. They might just touch on that issue, as well as on whether they will do more work on it.