Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. I agree that perhaps in the past there has been too much of an industry-led focus on this. Perhaps this is why we have ended up with the complications we now see with forestry and the acceptance in communities and acceptance among environmentalists also. My forestry policy group is made up of 25 people at the moment.

I would categorise there being one third from industry, one third from the environmental NGOs and slightly less than one third from State agencies such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the EPA. We also have community representation and I have charged Irish Rural Link to engage with the communities that feel most affronted and affected by forestry. I am trying to bring everyone on board. It is a massive task but all of these representations are on the work streams. I agree with Deputy Carthy that there is much scope for us to have smaller scale planting on farms, which would be readily acceptable to most farmers throughout the country. It is certainly something the Department and I are looking into.

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