Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Costello's idea is excellent. I will talk to the Ministers with the purse strings but some innovation would be a good idea. We should expand that scheme, where possible.

On the matter raised by Deputy Naughten, I will talk to the Minister in respect of the review. We are anxious and are now adding to the additional social housing stock at a considerable scale to build up a sufficiency of stock so we will have enough into the future to make sure we do not have the emergency situation we had some years ago, where people were not in a position to access emergency accommodation.

Forestry licensing in 2021 was 56% higher than 2020, with 4,000 licences issued compared to 2,592 in 2020. That said, we want to get take-up. The allocation for forestry this year is approximately €100 million. We want to make sure as many trees as possible are planted. That is key. On commercial forestry, the availability of a significant volume of timber, approximately 8.5 million cu. m, stabilised supply to the processing sector in 2021. That was the highest volume ever issued in a single year but there is still work to be done. I will not be happy until I see much greater levels of plantation and afforestation.

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