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

There is a lot at stake in the area of afforestation and forestry. Ireland faces huge fines because of carbon emissions, and forestry, as a carbon sink, can play a significant role in mitigating that. However, we are failing pitifully. The midterm forestry review makes for very sad reading. We have a target of 7,500 ha annually. COFORD, the National Council for Forest Research and Development, recommended that to reach the afforestation levels necessary, we need to plant double that -10,000 to 15,000 ha. However, we only plant 5,000 ha. We failed to meet what was an inadequate target and this year we are heading towards planting 4,000 ha.

As the Minister of State noted, the take-up in agroforestry is pathetic. It is 9 ha. We missed our targets on native woodlands by two thirds. Our native woodlands conservation scheme achieved zero results because the options in agroforestry and the supports and incentives for farmers to move into agroforestry are not adequate.

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