Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. I urge the Minister of State to try to get that over the line as quickly as possible because we need to be more prepared for the next storm.

I want to raise concerns I have that go back to the Gresham House deal. I understand there is an Irish strategic forestry fund that is supported by Coillte. This country has been asset-stripped for hundreds of years. In fact, during the Famine, resources were taken out of this country by our neighbours. I am very concerned that we are facilitating pension funds and investment funds to compete against neighbouring farmers on land that is primarily in the west. I refer to marginal land. It is a fact that Coillte is involved in this fund. I will provide two examples. In Craggagh, a village between Kiltimagh and Balla, a French company purchased over 200 acres of land and has obtained planning permission to plant primarily Sitka spruce on it. This is a region of Mayo that has already over 50% of forestry. I spoke to several farmers who were competing on that land and who wanted to farm and to raise their families and they were precluded from doing so. What is the Minister of State doing to prevent this large-scale land moving from farmers to investment and pension funds? Is he using the taxation system, for example, to try to promote forestry for farmers while also ensuring we get the right balance and prevent this large-scale movement of land to pension funds, to companies in London, in France and all across Europe, which have no interest in rural communities?