Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

The manner in which this debate is being conducted in the House is an insult to the Minister and all sides of the debate. It makes a mockery of the requirement for due process. I would like to refer to the point of order made by Deputy P. J. Sheehan which questioned whether the Minister intended to move an amendment on Committee Stage to section 25(2) of the Forestry Act 1988. Deputy P. J. Sheehan has made a serious intervention because it questions the adequacy of the legislation as drafted. It highlights the dangers of rushing legislation through the House. It may be inadequate but I hope the Minister can assure us in that regard.

I appreciate there is very little time and I want to ensure Deputy Sherlock is allowed some. Therefore, I will just make a few short points. Coillte was before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food recently. It was an insult to the members, of all parties, that Coillte did not raise the matter of borrowing with us. It is a State-sponsored semi-State company, not a Government-sponsored semi-State company, with a commercial remit and it would have been appropriate for it to have raised these issues with us at the meeting.

Why is Coillte seeking €400 million? Did it seek a greater amount? What is the emergency forcing us to rush this legislation? Could the Bill not have been published earlier, thus having allowed us to do adequate research? Is it urgent? At the committee meeting, reference was made to the black hole in Coillte's pension fund. Does it want to borrow to deal with that?

Are all the borrowings undertaken by Coillte to date compliant with the existing legislation? Are all the other agencies within the remit of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food complying with their statutory borrowing limits? This raises some very interesting questions.

Let me refer to forestry in general. Since 1995, when 23,700 hectares were planted, there has been a dramatic decline in the rate of planting, to approximately 6,500 hectares in 2009. The target in the programme for Government is 10,000 hectares per annum. Coillte is a player in this regard. We are led to believe the target of 10,000 hectares could be achieved through an additional budgetary provision of €2 million. The ink is not dry on the renewed programme for Government, yet the figures contained in a reply to a parliamentary question by Deputy Crawford on the matter show how big the gap is. Forestry has a significant role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions but we are way behind the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

It is impossible to have a meaningful debate on this subject. I strongly object to the manner in which the debate is being conducted.

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