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

Without rehashing everything that has been said, the reason we want this to be brought before the Dáil on an annual basis is because it will focus minds. This is an issue we really need to get right for all the reasons outlined by the Minister to which this Dáil has agreed. This has implications for a myriad of different policy areas such as land use, rural and regional development and our climate action obligations. We need to get this right. We are also in unanimity about saying that we need to plant trees. We need greater levels of afforestation and to ensure that we do all the things we set out to do.

What we have are lofty targets that are not being met. The programme for Government contains an afforestation target of 8,000 ha per year but we are nowhere near it. About a quarter of this was planted last year. The Minister is bringing forward what is on the face of it a good scheme regarding small-scale afforestation of native broadleaf species but what is missing is that overarching and comprehensive viewpoint. As has been rightly said, the timber industry has specific needs we need to address. Our environmental obligations mean there are specific needs we need to address. A crucial component concerns community needs we need to address. I ask the Minister to reconsider or at the very minimum give a commitment here tonight that the Department will supply the information asked for in this amendment in some official format. If the Minister could go this far and we could be assured that we could get clear and precise detail about the amount and percentage of broadleaf afforestation by local electoral area on an annual basis, it would be a good evening's work.

See this speech in context