Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Challenges for the Forestry Sector: Discussion (Resumed)
Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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There were several questions from six or seven contributors. Unfortunately, I cannot give the Minister of State time to answer because of Covid restrictions. I am getting a strong lecture in my ear because we are a half an hour over time. She might respond to the committee in writing and we will circulate the information. We are going to put together a report on all the meetings we have held. The Minister of State and the officials will have seen the significant anxiety and worry there is about the sector, and she acknowledged that things are not right. Our purpose as a committee is to get things right and there is no vendetta against anyone. We want a thriving forestry sector. Given that we have completed only 2,000 ha of planting in 2020, there are serious problems, in respect of both planting and felling.