Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

How many applications are currently being processed per week? I have mentioned the crisis. Everywhere I go, I hear about this. If one tries to encourage a farmer to enter forestry schemes right now, one will be on a hiding to nothing. That is where there is a crucial concern for the future. We know that Coillte is important but the preferential treatment it has been given compared with private landowners has meant that that sector where we need growth to happen with regard to afforestation policy has become completely disengaged. It is disengaged because of the failures of the Department. I have asked the Minister of State on a number of occasions if she will face up to the faceless bureaucrats in her Department who are responsible for this crisis and who are still in charge of getting us out of it. We need a fundamental rethink, which will not happen unless there is engagement with stakeholders, which means the farmers, who can play a really important role. Will that change happen?

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