Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government contains a commitment to ensure Ireland's green isle image informs Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine policy. It also includes commitments on afforestation and recognising its carbon sink value. However, people in the Toon Valley near Macroom are struggling to come to terms with how those commitments fit with the issuing by the Department of a licence for the removal of parts of Silvergrove Wood. While it is not part of the Gearagh special area of conservation, it is just upstream from it and is subject to an application for SAC status. One would have expected the application to raise a red flag in the Department in relation to the issuing of a licence. How does the licensing fit with the commitments in the programme for Government referred to? Should a red flag not have been raised?

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