Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am a little bit mystified. The Department has €112 million a year committed to 2020 on an afforestation programme that seeks to go from 6,500 hectares, which is the correct figure, to 8,390 hectares. I do not know why that was the figure picked but that is the figure picked per annum. We hope, through certain measures, to be able to get to 7,000 hectares in the next 12 months. If the Deputy takes the current market situation, the impact of the Brexit decision on sterling has meant that prices into the UK, which is our biggest customer, have dropped by 20%. This has had a knock-on effect on the wood for standing timber for certain processors of 20% of the market price. Coupled with the fact that people can import timber from Scotland at a more competitive rate, there is no real commercial incentive to clear fell early. If the Deputy was up to speed with the current trends-----

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