Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has large populations of deer and, as I said earlier, pine martens and squirrels, but it is losing the bird and insect life. It is not just in the forests. Bird life is being lost because of inappropriate management of the grasslands and wetlands. This is forestry within the context of what is being done in farming. The two go together. I have heard almost uniform agreement in the debate, including in the Minister's contribution, that we look on agroforestry as a big step. The Minister should seek to get farmers behind this and skilled in this planting task in the upcoming budget. Let us do it in the next five years and get them to use native trees that are local to the area.

The acorn from a local area has specific characteristics that will help it to thrive in that area. The complexity of forests is amazing. What we are learning about trees and their interaction with each other as they grow is fascinating. I spoke to a forester the other day who told me that even the smallest change in how they turn and blow can affect the nature of the wood as it grows. As the light is opened up and there is a more open canopy, the nature of what happens to the tops of the trees starts to change. This is an incredibly complex process. Every tree is different and every tree must be in the right place. As various people said today, we need the right tree in the right place but we also need a mix of trees, including trees of different ages and wild trees as well as planted trees. We need to step away from the concentration on plantations, whether monoculture or clear fell. That is as clear as day and we in the Green Party along with many others will be making the case for this, not just today but in the run-up to the budget and negotiations on any future programme for Government.

We believe that this is the responsible response that we need to the biodiversity and climate crisis we face. It must be based on science and the Minister is absolutely right about that. No one has absolute certainty on this because it is very complex, but we cannot say that what we are doing now is fine and the way we have always done it is fine. We cannot continue to drain the land, plant again, drain again, pour phosphates and glyphosates on and plant again, because that is not looking after nature. That is why we called this motion close to nature forestry because it is an ecological approach that values nature. In valuing nature, we value ourselves, whether we are Kerry, Roscommon, Dublin or Wicklow people. We are part of nature. Let us look after it.

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