Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept, from what the Minister of State has outlined, that efforts are being made to try to deal with this. It will cause real problems with biomass and lumber supplies. We are trying to move towards on-farm forestry as a sustainability goal that is good for the environment and for farming. My party certainly supports and promotes this, as have others. The problem is that small plantations are sometimes on the edge of farms and on very marginal land. That was sensible when the trees were planted. These regulations will paralyse the harvesting. Having an environmental impact assessment for a 15 km radius around a tiny plantation of forestry is absolutely nuts by any measurement. Surely this can be conveyed to somebody in Europe. There are no other words for this. I accept the Minister of State's comments that the Department is bringing in consultants but there must be every effort to deal with this. This should not be on our radar. I could understand a small environmental assessment of a limited area around a plantation.

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