Mr. Brian Rushe:

Farmers have no confidence in the forestry service. Mr. John Murray made a good point when he said that it needs to become a service and not an impediment. That is what it has become. I sit on the charter of farmers' rights committee, representing the IFA, along with other farming organisations. The charter of farmers' rights is a form the Department uses to report on rates of pay and delivery times. Every section of the Department has, over time, achieved its targets. These targets were agreed with farm organisations in the negotiation of the charter. However, the forestry section consistently failed to lived up to the targets that it agreed.