Mr. Fergus Moore:

Yes. I thank Mr. Callanan. Certainly, our plantations are coming to a stage whereby we are increasing the levels of harvesting. Obviously, with increased levels of harvesting you get increased emissions. We have a lot of legacy plantations on peat soils as well and have had low afforestation levels in recent years.

Certainly, if you look at what we have done over the past number of years, our licensing has improved. We have a well-funded afforestation programme. We have a lot of scheme measures. We are looking for a wide range and diversity of forest types to be planted in the years ahead, which is really promising. The Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and others have been actively involved and have even contacted local farmers who have licences and who have not gone ahead with planting. They have inquired about why they have not gone ahead. There has certainly been a big communications drive in recent months that has really seen a turnaround. We have raised our afforestation levels. So far this year, 2,200 ha have been planted, as opposed to last year, when he planted 1,495 ha. I know they are small numbers but it looks like the ship has turned a bit. People are getting more engaged with the forestry schemes we have. In the years ahead, with a big drive on afforestation, we can certainly contribute to a whole-farm approach to diversification.