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

I would like to elaborate briefly on the logic behind this amendment. I want to underline that I am by no means a scientific expert in this area. I would like to comment on the whole issue of disease without getting into the rights and wrongs of the Gougane Barra issue. There has been some speculation about certain diseases which are beginning to appear here, in England and in other parts of Europe. I refer to diseases that we did not appear to have much of before now. I was reading an article about the ramorum issue. As far as I understand it, we did not really have it here before. They did not have it in England until relatively recently. The Minister of State's officials probably know more about it. Perhaps the point is that it was limited to different species. There is speculation that it is hitting new species after being imported into Ireland and Britain because we are planting particular types of species that might not be appropriate. One of the consequences of the spread of these diseases is that we have to cut down loads of trees. This example shows why we need to be careful about the potential impact of afforestation projects on our native woodlands. That is the point of this amendment. It seems reasonable that people who are concerned about these issues should have the right to petition to ensure the possible ecological impact on native woodlands is studied properly.

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