Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I share Deputy Kehoe's concerns about delays but I am also glad to hear that the Minister of State is aware of some of the environmental difficulties. The answer is not to get rid of objections but to process them and deal with them quickly and to hire suitably qualified people in the Department to vet these applications. While forestry is extremely important, the type of forestry we are carrying out at the moment does little to benefit our environment. In fact, it is completely detrimental, particularly in the way monoculture is planted, clear-felled and replanted. I invite the Minister of State, before she comes to any final decision, to look at Slieve Aughty. Much of the land is designated as a special protection area, SPA, for hen harriers. Farmers are put to great lengths to protect the habitat for hen harriers and rightly so. They have no objection to that. However, Coillte then comes in, using pesticides for which it has received a derogation, and completely rapes the countryside.

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