Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak to the motion. While it may not have my full agreement, we need to reconsider our approach to forestry and how it can be used to maximise a return, both financially and ecologically, for landowners, farmers and the people. I thank Deputies Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin for the briefing today in Leinster House which was most informative.

Forestry production plays a key role within the State, yet it does not receive a fraction of the attention it deserves at Government level. I know that the Minister of State knows that the area of forest cover in the State is estimated to be 731,650 ha, or 10.5% of the total land area of Ireland. That alone speaks to the enormous importance of the sector, not to mention the employment of well over 10,000 people, generating €2.2 billion of output per annum. We know that hurley making is worth an estimated €5 million per annum to the economy. I hate to mention hurling when there is no one from Kilkenny present. While we laid claim to the all-Ireland title again this year, I sympathise with the vanquished.

I am aware that we need to examine how forest owners could benefit from carbon credits attached to their forests. As the Minister of State will be aware, last year agriculture committee MEPs tabled proposals to make it easier to use forests to offset carbon emissions under the EU draft 2030 climate and energy rules. In their report MEPs asked that forest management which involves conservation, rather than the planting of new trees, be factored in to EU rules and voted to hike available carbon credits for forests and grasslands from 280 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to 450 million tonnes. I am also aware, however, that when the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, was asked if a carbon credit could be claimed against forestry, he replied that the removal of greenhouse gases by forests in Ireland were not linked with meeting our emissions reduction targets up to 2020. I am aghast at this. However, he went on to say in October last year that, in addition, greenhouse gas removals from Irish forests were not included in the emissions trading scheme. That is bizarre and shows that the lunatics are really running the asylum. Therefore, there are no carbon credits associated with forestry that could be traded formally, either within Ireland or the European Union as a whole.

I support the call made in the motion for the State to make a fundamental change in forestry policy away from a narrow vision of a 30-year cycle to a permanent woodland approach that would provide greater and more diverse social, environmental and economic benefits for society as a whole.

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