Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister but none of that inspires confidence at all. We know that the decisions and measures we take today will have an effect in the future. The chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC, clearly told the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action yesterday that there is a need to act quickly, to get this done correctly, to be ambitious and not just to wonder why we are reaching our targets, but to actually deliver on them and increase our ambition. We also heard these comments in the media. I ask again, what is the backlog in respect of licences? Are the State and its agencies leading from the front? How many acres have they planted? Forward counting was provided for by the CCAC. Is this something the State is going to do? This has been reported in the media. I have concerns about that. Is the State going to begin forward counting in respect of forestry?

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