Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing my time with Deputies Lowry, Shanahan and Verona Murphy.

I welcome this Bill. It is very necessary and I commend the speed with which the Minister of State has brought it forward in her short time in office. The forestry industry as we know it is in dire straits. I come from the constituency of Galway East, a rural area with a lot of forestry. We also have sawmills and a huge number of people employed in the construction industry. I have received a lot of correspondence from builders' providers, building contractors, sawmills and farmers about the stagnation of the forestry industry. The jobs created by the forestry industry are regional and local jobs. These jobs are under serious threat. Starting from today, there is a waiting time of years to get an appeals process under way. This Bill is to be welcomed for that reason. That said, once the legislation passes through the Dáil, action must be taken and the resources must be put in place to process the licence applications of those who wish to grow forests and those who wish to fell trees and build roads. We need to see forestry developed in a timely manner.

We need to put confidence back into the industry. We must ensure that we have continuity of supply such that people understand that when they are looking for timber, they will be able to get it. I know of a farmer who sold some of his cattle because he was going to plant part of his land. He is awaiting a licence to do so. He will miss the opportunity to plant it this year. He has no income from that land and, as he told me yesterday evening as he walked through it, it is going wild because he cannot do anything with it. That type of situation should not be tolerated.

On the other side of things, it is important that we ensure the appeals process is fair to those who wish to make appeals. We must also ensure that, whatever we do, we do not lose sight of the fact that people have a right to make a submission on any kind of planning application. However, that needs to be done in a way that is sustainable in order that people can still conduct their business and ensure the industry thrives, as it can and should.

I look forward to the new Minister of State bringing forward policy relating to afforestation. I visited County Leitrim last year to see first hand how over-intensification of forestry has nearly destroyed a county. As a Deputy stated earlier, we need to have balance. Life is a balancing act. The Minister will be charged with the objective of ensuring we have a balanced forestry industry which will be good for people. It will be good for workers, sawmills, the environment and the land. We need to ensure that the policies that are put in place, and the rules and regulations that are put around them, are balanced. There must be balance in terms of the number and type of trees that are grown and the locations in which they are grown such that they are spread across this lovely island. We must ensure that people who wish to object do so in a balanced way. That is what everybody is seeking.

I do not think there are barons involved in the forestry sector. The sawmills in my constituency and county and those in County Roscommon are family-run businesses. The haulage businesses are family run by people of farming stock. Those who cut down the trees are local people, as are those who sow the trees. This is a vital component in the regeneration of the rural and regional areas of Ireland. We must do it with the tools we have. Forestry is one of those tools and I am quite confident the Minister of State will use it to the best of her ability to ensure we have a balanced and growing forestry sector. We do not wish to import anything, particularly diseases from other countries.

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