Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We can discuss Gougane Barra a little more as we go through the Bill, particularly having regard to the issue of public consultation. This was not ancient woodland per sealthough it was an ancient woodland site. I have heard an argument from an international tree pathologist who has looked at the site and had been at it before the felling. She said there was no sign of this die-back at all. Some of the questions I have asked about this have been answered with references to things like aerial flights having seen from the air scorching which was indicative of the presence of this disease. I am not a scientist or sufficiently expert to know if these are signs. However, I have reported this to people who know more than I do and they said that is not conclusive evidence of anything. I have made further enquiries about precisely what the scientific evidence and adjudication was and how it would compare with other places where the disease has been found. I asked if the extent to which it was found here justified the huge felling we saw.

Before we get to discuss it in more detail as we go along, I will brief myself fully. I was not sure the issue would come up tonight. I am open minded about it. I am not an expert, but I have to take seriously concerns raised by people who are quite knowledgeable in the area and ensure we have proper justification for a very significant and, at one level, shocking act. I have been to Gougane Barra many times. It is a beautiful forest park and the fact that so much of it was cut down and is closed to the public is a very serious matter.

On the more substantial matter, while all of the things the Minister of State has said are true, this is about specifically including in a Bill on forestry an acknowledgement of the critical importance of ancient woodlands and putting in place specific management plans, which we do not have at present, directed toward their protection. It is not just a general conservation Bill but a specific forestry Bill.

See this speech in context