P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

Although the target is 10,000 hectares per annum, the Minister of State has stated the planting programme has declined in recent years, falling as low as 6,000 hectares last year. While the current planning obligation certainly is deterring farmer planting, I will return to this point in the next question to be taken. The planting threshold of eight hectares is too high. I understand it is clear, from the applications in hand in the forestry service, the present scheme simply is not attractive to farmers in the west of Ireland or in other areas in which farm sizes tend to be smaller. On the other end of the scale——

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