David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will divide the time on the basis of four minutes, three minutes and three minutes, respectively.

I commend the Green Party on bringing forward this motion. I understand I do not need to move the Sinn Féin amendment to the motion but if I am required to do so, I will do that. Sinn Féin is committed to a sustainable afforestation strategy and we recognise the importance of increasing the percentage of land under forestry in the mitigation of carbon emissions, as alluded to by a number of previous speakers, but we must be honest and say that not all plantations are beneficial to the environment and not all species of trees are beneficial to local habitats. We have grave concerns regarding the future afforestation policy given the failures we have seen in the past. While investment in fast-growing conifers has proven commercially popular, such planting has limited, if any, impact on carbon capture and the intensive plantation of invasive species such as Sitka spruce has had a detrimental and ecological impact which has not been good.

The Government's afforestation programme is fixated with the planting of the Sitka spruce, an approach that is having a detrimental effect in terms of biodiversity. We also heard this week that the National Biodiversity Data Centre, which is based in Waterford, may not get funding next year. It an organisation that collects data on biodiversity. This a matter that the Minister and the Government need to address.

The issue of monoculture afforestation is one that has unduly affected Leitrim, which my colleague will cover later. The rate of afforestation there between 2015 and 2018 was just over 24 times the level in Donegal, the vast majority of which was monoculture Sitka spruce. The use of this tree has been criticised by farmers, environmental groups and the EU, yet Fine Gael still continues with this policy.

We in Sinn Féin have proposed alternatives to the Minister. We want the immediate discontinuation of financial inducements for monoculture afforestation. We want the immediate introduction of grant schemes and tax incentives that favour the planting and maintenance of continuance cover, sustainable broadleaf forestry and hedgerows. We want the protection of mature trees in public locations from destruction. We want an island-wide solution to address climate change. That would mean the establishment by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the North of a joint working group plan and for them to work with all the relevant stakeholders. We also want to provide for planning permission for all forestry development over 5 ha.

There is a great deal we need to do to reach our climate change targets set to reduce emissions. Many mitigation measures have to be put in place in terms of retrofitting homes, investment in public transport and in reaching renewable energy targets but we also must recognise that planting more trees and allowing them to act as a carbon sink is a very good way for this State to be able to become carbon neutral. For that and many other reasons we support the planting of more tress, and we support the intent and logic behind this motion.

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