Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply but, unfortunately, he did not get to the end of it.

The Government is hoping to provide funding for the establishment of 2,700 ha of native woodlands, a progressive development. The plan involves integrating these schemes into the main afforestation schemes, rather than they being stand-alone schemes. I take it that many of these native woodland schemes will be planted alongside commercial forestries.

Native species must also be planted alongside aquatic buffer zones in water quality sensitive areas, special areas of conservation and fishery sensitive areas. I assume the reason behind this is to improve biodiversity. Planting of native woodlands alongside mussel and oyster fisheries in enclosed bays will help overcome any concerns the EU may have about the protection of bird species and so forth, allowing traditional fishing in such areas continue. Will the Minister of State elaborate on this?

The new programme is to be welcomed and the Minister of State will find no opposition from Sinn Féin to it. However, will he elaborate on the competition between farmers and non-farmers in the scheme?

It would be of concern that arable land could be bought up by speculators and used for their commercial reasons. The knock-on effect would be to take more and more people away from isolated rural communities. That is something that would concern me, as I am sure it would the Minister of State.

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