Mr. Pat Glennon:

That is a fair comment. If we are to achieve our climate mitigation target by 2050, it is clear we need to plant 18,000 ha a year. We are a country mile away from that compared with where we should be. I am struggling to understand why we, as Ireland incorporated, cannot do that. We have a product that we can grow twice as fast as any of our competitors in Europe. We have a country that is screaming for housing. We have a product that will be grown on Irish soil, harvested and processed by Irish people, and our surplus can be exported. Why can our Department not sort out this planning fiasco we seem to get? We just cannot seem to obliterate the red tape and start helping and securing farmers to get trees in the ground. The Government's National Mitigation Plan states: "Ireland has a target to expand forest cover from the current 11% of the land area of the country to 18% by 2050, with the majority of this expansion to be undertaken by farmers." How come we cannot simplify the system to help these farmers to get trees in the ground?

The Deputy is correct. The ship has left the harbour. We see the word "licence" granted in respect of 4,000 or 4,500 applications, while only two actually got trees into the ground. People are waiting so long. Who will wait 18 months any more to see what will happen? With the new programme being delayed until the end of the year until we get an okay from Europe, the ship has left the harbour. Farmers have moved on. They have lost confidence in the programme.