Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy MacSharry for yielding. I congratulate the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, on her appointment and wish her all the best in her role.

I welcome the Bill, which remedies a problem in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but also assists us in achieving not just targets we have set in the programme for Government but also in regard to afforestation. While the State has been a little late in its response, the Minister of State and the Department have been very responsive in setting about finding a resolution to the issue with the appeals process that was highlighted effectively by environmental groups and citizens. Those issues are addressed in the Bill.

The Bill will improve the circumstances in which the industry finds itself and clear the backlog of applications and appeals. We can now begin, I hope, to transform the industry and to make it a more efficient and productive sector within our environment and economy. As a people, we have a long and proud tradition and respect for our land and environment. It has sustained us through centuries of hardship and struggle, building a bond between us and the land. In some respects, this makes Ireland an outlier when compared with many other countries. Ireland's commitment to afforestation, for example, is an area we should be proud of and one in which we should be even more ambitious. A number of colleagues mentioned the difficulties with some of the afforestation of non-native species that has taken place in recent years. It is an important aspect of the consideration of the climate and biodiversity crisis we have declared in the State and that is recognised globally.

The destruction of forests throughout the globe has had a dramatic effect on our environment and lives, which is why it is important that Ireland take the lead, not only to catch up with our European colleagues, who have a much higher afforestation rate, but to pass them out. We have been world leaders in many areas over many years, and I would like afforestation to be yet another in which we take that lead. The benefits are plain for everybody to see, from improved air quality to preventing soil erosion and providing new habitats for flowers and animals that have been increasingly driven out of their environments. Perhaps the most important aspect of wide-scale afforestation is that trees act as a carbon sink, removing carbon from the atmosphere that we have put there. Recent studies have shown the dramatic effect these carbon sinks can have. One study published in a science journal in October last year suggested that the correct level of afforestation could remove up to two thirds of CO2 emissions created by humans. This is a staggering figure in the context of the ambitions we have in front of us and the commitments we have given.

Our country and our international community have seen major changes this year in the advent of Covid-19, but these pale in comparison with the challenges we face in respect of climate change. Indeed, it is the greatest challenge our generation and subsequent generations will grapple with. Our success or failure in this battle will determine our future as a species on this planet. I support the ambition of the Bill and the broader ambition of not just the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications but also of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

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