Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. The Minister of State has heard the passionate pleas of Members here. The Ceann Comhairle has commented on the remarkable number of contributors to this debate on a Thursday evening. There is great concern for the forestry sector but there is also a great realisation of what the forestry sector can do for rural Ireland.

I will mention forestry contractors, who are often forgotten in the debate about forestry. Those contractors have come under significant financial pressure over the past number of years because of the low output of felling and afforestation licences. I ask the Minister of State to meet and talk with their organisation. Many of them have serious financial issues facing them. They also have lost their skilled labour force, who obviously were not prepared to stand idly by when no work was there for them. These contractors have serious issues at the moment and I ask again that she meet and talk with them.

As a Government Deputy, I cannot accept her answer on ash dieback. These forestry owners, through no fault of their own, have suffered significant financial loss and it would be a meaningful gesture from the Government to allow them to draw a premium on their re-plantations in the future. As for saying that is not going to be accepted, I will continue lobbying as a Government Deputy to ensure that those plantation owners get some semblance of fair play as it is completely essential for that to happen. It would show that the Government is serious about forestry and forestry owners.

My final point for the Minister of State is that this industry is at a serious crossroads. We have the review of the CAP and this plan for the next five years is being finalised. Forestry has to be part of that plan. It has been said by numerous speakers during this debate that it is completely nonsensical that a farmer in an environmental scheme cannot participate in forestry. Those two things must be married together for the next five years. If the farmer is therefore entering an environmental scheme, forestry should then be part of that if the farmer chooses. When a farmer sits down with his or her consultant to draw an environmental plan for his or her farm, that farmer can introduce forestry measures into that, whether it is to plant into the corner of the field or more extensive planting and that that can be incorporated in the environmental scheme. If we are going to make any serious attempt at reaching the target in the programme for Government of 8,000 ha, that is the avenue we must use. If we close off that land availability this time around, as we did with GLAS, we will stay at 20% to 25% of our targets for afforestation. This country just cannot afford that, whether it is for climate change and the reductions of our emissions or for the survival of our forestry sector. I impress upon the Minister of State the need to ensure that the plan going to Brussels has forestry married into the environmental schemes.

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