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

I thank Deputy Naughten for sharing time. Perhaps the Ceann Comhairle will shut me up after four minutes to ensure that Deputy Nolan has enough time.

I must say that these debates feel a little like déjà vu. We have had quite a number of them in my short time in this House, in this Chamber, in the Convention Centre and in the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Regardless of all the spin, there is no hiding from the truth that while the Minister of State and other Ministers were over at COP26, farmers and landowners were outside of the gates of this House protesting for the right to plant trees. It is bizarre. To me, it spelled what is a crisis.

There is a tale of two countries and two governments. The Scottish Government employed the services of a consultant, James Mackinnon, to make recommendations in relation to resolving their forestry crisis. An Irish Government did the same. Following the completion of the Mackinnon report in Scotland, within 24 months the Scottish forestry sector saw the annual afforestation rate rise from 4,600 ha to 12,200 ha. They are now setting targets of 50,000 ha by 2024. The Irish Government compiled the commissioned report, received the Mackinnon report, and what did it do? It carried out a review of the report, followed by an analysis of the report. Now it is carrying out a review of the analysis of the review of the Mackinnon report. I do not have a hard copy of the Minister of State's speech, so I cannot count the number of different reviews and assessments that she announced today. I lost count after I heard about the independent systems analysis, which is among the different reviews that the Government is carrying out.

There is a crisis ongoing. In terms of spelling it out clearly, the programme for Government outlined a target. It was the only target in the programme for Government relating to the Minister of State's portfolio. It stated that the Government would plant 8,000 ha per year. The target was not reached last year. Around a quarter of it was delivered. This year it might even be less than last year. When the climate action plan was published last week, it was interesting to note that in the 200 pages or whatever of targets and objectives, no reference was made to the hectarages of afforestation that the Government plans to plant. The answers are in front of us; we know what they are. They are in the Mackinnon report, the review of the Mackinnon report and in the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which was actually published back in March and related to deliberations that commenced this time last year. The answers are there. They have been spelled out. We need to get to a point where they are actually being implemented.

Yes, sometimes there are improvements. I accept that over the past number of months there has been movement in terms of felling and forest road licensing, but the afforestation rates are absolutely scandalous. The CAP strategic plan that was published barely referenced forestry at all. To reiterate what others have said, if we have an agri-environmental scheme that actually excludes forestry and organics, that will be an absolute travesty on part of the Minister of State's Department. The Mackinnon report clearly sets out roadmap through which we can deliver what forestry is supposed to do. I have said, on a number of occasions, that a forest should be something that people want to live beside. It should be good for the economy, the environment and local communities.

Finally, the Minister of State mentioned the collaborative approach and all of the parties that need to be part of that. Her own Department was not mentioned on that list. That is where the change is required.

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