Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. In terms of new planting, a big percentage of what goes out in forestry is accounted for by the annual premiums. These last for 15 or 20 years now. This part is predictable because those trees will be there for that length of time. Where we do not have the same predictability is in planting. We have much more predictability over felling, although there is not the same cost associated with it.

We have overbudgeted for the last two to four years because we have been budgeting based on meeting the target but we have not been meeting it. As the Deputy knows, the new forestry scheme we have brought in is very attractive and a big improvement on the previous scheme. Premiums have increased by up to 60%. Equally, the number of years farmers can get the premiums for has gone from 15 years to 20 years. Despite these changes, we are still not seeing a significant uptake in respect of the number of plantings. Confidence was definitely impacted by the licensing backlog we had to deal with. It was there when we came into office and we had to work our way through it. That is, thankfully, largely rectified now with much more regular timeframes in place in terms of the length of time taken to get a licence. I have no doubt but that the situation impacted morale across the sector too.

The other point, and the Deputy will know this too, is the general health of the alternative options in terms of land use, whether this concerns leasing land, dairying or the price of just renting generally. This aspect is impacting on farmers deciding whether to take a term of 15 years or longer in respect of a change of land use. We have made adjustments, though. In the most recent budget, we adjusted the forestry figures to take a more balanced approach to what we thought the likely uptake might be next year.

We would still like to reach the 8,000 but, judging by previous uptake, it would be a massive jump to get to that in a year.