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

Why not, indeed? If the beef exceptional aid measure, BEAM, scheme, for example, had come before this House for approval, we might not have had the situation where so much money went without being drawn down and then had to be repaid through penalties. It is precisely for those reasons that there is a need for oversight. There is a particular problem in forestry, however. Quite frankly, as I said, across the board, when we talk to environmentalists, the timber industry and communities, they do not trust the Department. I recognise and have gone on record as saying there have been improvements over the past number of months but the erosion of trust has not yet been fully undone.

On this particular issue, without getting into a debate on all the other different schemes - because there are other schemes that I believe warrant Dáil approval - what would this mean in practical terms? If the scheme is a good one and we hope it is, it would be agreed without problems and without debate. The only time it would actually lead to time taken up in the Dáil would be if fundamental problems were identified by any Member of the House. Again, from the starting point with regard to this, it is absolutely legitimate to suggest the scheme would be brought before this House in order that we could all be confident that it will deliver what it sets out to do. I implore the Minister; regulation will not cut it. The difficulty with the regulation is that it is signed off by the Minister in Agriculture House before anybody else - in terms of the elected Members of this House - has seen it. This issue of the afforestation crisis and the importance of forestry in relation to all the things I have outlined is too important for that. This needs to be brought back to this House.

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