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

The areas the Minister referred to are addressed in the Bill through the environmental assessments the Department will be obliged to take into account. We are asking that the scheme take into consideration the existing levels of afforestation and, to go back to our earlier conversation, the types of afforestation involved. We want a forestry policy that delivers for the environment and the economy but also, as I have said countless times, delivers for the communities that live close by. Our amendment is eminently sensible in that regard.

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