Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Consider what has been done in the UK where enormous resources have been committed to planting trees for the next 40 years. All we can manage is an increase of €2 million from this year's budget, which was a failure. This year we will plant between only 4,000 hectares and 5,000 hectares. Next year we will have a fund for forestry and bioenergy and I suspect forestry will receive less money next year than it is receiving this year. The Minister stated we will plant 7,000 hectares. That is fallacy and he is misleading people. He expects us to believe in the Government on climate change when he is deliberately misleading people on forestry and making a bags of the introduction of a carbon tax.

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