Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish the three Ministers, Deputies McConalogue and Heydon and Senator Hackett, the best of luck. It is a privilege to be a Minister. I was a Minister of State for nine years. It is very strange for me to be asking the questions now to a Minister of State after nine years. I welcome the fact that the Minister of State is in the process of appointing an independent chair. I would like to bring her back to November 2019 when one of the headlines in the Irish Farmers Journal was that the lack of political priority for the forestry sector was of major concern. I would like the Minister of State to be able to turn that headline around and say that the forestry sector has absolute political support. Having formerly worked in the forestry sector and whose college was related to the forestry sector, I have a great interest in it. I really believe that the Government can achieve a great deal more than has been achieved in the past. There are some decisions that the Minister of State and her Department can make which would make a very real difference. We are falling way behind in our planting targets. I have no doubt the Minister of State is well aware of that. As she is coming from the Green Party, which is very much the environmental party, I urge her support in this sector. It is really needed.

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