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

I do not doubt that the Minister of State is making a serious effort in this area but the facts tell us that we are failing. We must dramatically change things. Coillte did not help matters by messing farmers around with the farm partnership scheme and not paying them. I do not know if that has been resolved, but it has left a bitter taste in the mouths of farmers when it comes to initiatives that might increase forest cover.

The point about agroforestry is that although we need to explain it to people and encourage people, we need to examine models such as that in Norway. In south-west Norway, the forest cover was increased from 0% to 50% in 50 years, and now 70% of the income for the farmers in the area is from forestry. This is because there were supports and grants to encourage the natural regeneration of forests, not forestry according to the industrial or commercial model. It worked brilliantly. It was very good for the environment and is now generating considerable income for farmers. That is the sort of model we need to follow.

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