Mr. Karl Coggins:

I will speak about the link between biodiversity and climate and the pollinator plan. The Department supports the planting of native woodlands through its afforestation scheme. I will refer to the number of trees as a metric. At the beginning of the forestry programme, we planted approximately 350,000 native trees. In 2018, that increased to just over 1 million native trees. So far this year, we are on target to exceed last year's target in terms of native woodlands.

On the pollinator plan, I remind the committee that native woodlands create very valuable habitats for pollinators. On World Bee Day earlier this year, the Department wrote to the owners of native woodlands to invite them to contact the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations and the Irish Beekeepers Association with a view to establishing hives in those woodlands, which we helped them to establish. The Department has done many things to help to increase native woodland cover. The increase in rates in the mid-term review was mentioned earlier. The Department recently announced the name of the first business that will contribute to the establishment of native woodlands under the Department's new woodland environmental fund. We believe this fund offers real potential to incentivise even further the planting of native woodlands.