Mr. Simon White:

I thank Deputy Healy-Rae. I do not want this meeting to end in negativity. We, who could be very negative, want to be positive. We want to go forward. We are actually very committed to forestry if it is done properly. It has huge benefits to this nation. It is bemusing to us to find what is happening because there is so much potential out there. We need it for the environment. Do people realise that we are signed up to planting 500,000 ha to get up to 18% of this country under trees, which is a low percentage for Europe, by 2030? That is only down the road. The Minister of State and others have put so much effort into the advertising and promotion of this. If we were to get 10,000 ha planted under that one-hectare scheme, it would be all we would get done. It is ludicrous. We need to promote real forestry and getting trees into the ground, which are needed. That will happen only when the legacy issues are dealt with, and the major legacy issue is ash dieback. It would be a small price to pay because in the end we will not be able to make our climate change targets and suchlike, and nothing can do that more easily, better and more efficiently than trees. We need them and we are the people who can do it, but there is not an acre of land in this country that needs to be planted that is not in the hands of private owners at the moment. Coillte does not own any more land. We own the land. People have to be enticed to plant. It has to be made worth their while and it has to be done properly. It has to be managed properly. There has been a hell of a lack of that leadership, and that needs to be addressed. It can be done. The people are willing to do it. Let us get together and get it done.