Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)

I grew up walking in the forests of County Wicklow and still walk in them with my two sons most weekends. People in the county have an emotional attachment to its forests and mountains. It is an attachment with which I empathised last night when I listened to the debate on turf cutting. Not only does access to the forests matter to people in County Wicklow, so too does the fact that we own them. We do not differentiate between the land and the trees. It matters to us that while the land will continue to belong to us, the trees will belong to a logging company. The Minister may frown and perhaps he does not feel the same way as we do, but, as someone who grew up in County Wicklow, I assure him that based on the number who are contacting me with queries about his proposals, ownership of our forests matters.

I have met the Coillte management team, as I am sure the Minister has, and it appears to be doing a good job. There seem to be important synergies between the various elements of its operations. Having walked the mountains of County Wicklow for decades, I know the company's investment in recreational amenities is making a difference. We have, for instance, new cycle routes and many other positive developments are taking place. While I accept the Government will do its best to try to maintain access to our forests, its efforts will not succeed. We have seen what logging companies do all over the world. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, referred to selling the rights to the forests for 90 years. The companies in question will find excuses and reasons to shut down access and decline to invest as much in our forests as Coillte did.

As a representative of County Wicklow, I implore the Minister to bear in mind that ownership of our trees and access to our forests matter a great deal to people in my county. I ask him to consider that, in addition to their economic value, our forests have an intrinsic value and should be maintained in public ownership.

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