James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am here today to represent the constituency of Cork East, which I share with Deputy Sherlock. What is quite interesting about our constituency is that we are very fortunate to have a large number of commercial forestry operators in the region. They provide very valuable employment to communities, in particular in areas like Fermoy and rural hinterlands surrounding some of the mountainous regions in the constituency. Many agricultural landowners in those areas are very fortunate to have engaged in the forestry industry through the decades, planting commercial forestry in co-operation with State agencies such as Coillte and other players in the industry.

We are very fortunate to have many facets of the timber industry located in the county. For example, a substantial proportion of timber from Ireland is imported and products are exported in Cobh, which is something that may be seen as negative and positive. My desire and hope for our Government is that we would be in a position to deal with a long-standing mess. The Minister of State, Deputy Hackett, gets a lot of criticism. My perspective on this is that the Government inherited a substantial mess in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The Minister of State is somewhat precluded from making such a statement, but I am happy to say, as a Government backbencher, that before we entered into Government there was a very serious issue building up. Putting ideologies aside, as somebody who comes in here day in and day out to vote for the Government and its legislation as a Government backbencher in Fianna Fáil, we have concerns in our party, from an ideological perspective, about the Green Party and the future of commercial forestry in Ireland. We have the overall hope and desire to increase the amount of timber planted in Ireland.

An enormous amount of land is available in this country. There are over 17 million acres in the Republic of Ireland, but unfortunately our forestry cover is far below the European average. I understand we have set a target to increase our forestry cover by 11% by 2050, in line with many of our European colleagues, but I am hopeful that next year we can deal with the red tape and administrative burden of regulations in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to try to bolster the plantation of forestry.

Forestry Industry Ireland has been very good in terms of its engagement with many Members of the Oireachtas. There is deep-felt anger in the organisation and people involved in the timber industry in Ireland from a commercial perspective. They need drastic increases in the amount of forestry being planted. They have concerns that there will only be around 2,000 ha of forestry planted when they want us to reach a target of 8,000 ha per year. I wholeheartedly support this.

I come from a dairy farming background and have an appreciation of the importance of agriculture to the economy. I want to diversify agricultural incomes. People who may have land that is not the most productive and may have been involved in GLAS and REPS should have the option to go into forestry. Off-site farms may have ten or 20 acres available away from the main farm that may be deemed suitable for forestry. If people felt it was easy to get in and out of a scheme, it is something they would consider. However, from a planning and regulatory point of view, I am hearing time and again that people are concerned.

I am very genuine about my desire to see us hit our target for 2050 and increase the level of woodland in this country. However, I want to put the point across to the Minister of State that I am getting it in the neck at home from people involved in the timber industry and farmers who want to get involved in it. They feel the burden and barriers of entry to get involved are very difficult. That is something we need to continue to work on in a productive and inclusive way.

In politics, it is often difficult to take criticism, but I want to relate what I am hearing from people involved in agriculture, not just at a small-scale level but also at the upper echelons of the industrial level. I have been very fortunate to see the direct employment some timber mills provide. I will not name any company, but I recently had the opportunity to visit a plant in Fermoy which has provided over 150 jobs near Corrin. It is spectacular to see in a small rural area far from Cork city that scale of local employment provided for people across a range of ages. That is the type of balanced regional development Ireland can thrive on. We need to ensure strong rural enterprises continue to be allowed to thrive. Some in the industry in Ireland have become international leaders in this area, something we have to salute as a small, open and diverse economy. I want Ireland to have an impact.

On the impact timber can have when it comes to sustainable practices in the building industry, it is exciting what Ireland could achieve if we fully explore the options of including more modern timber building and timber-frame housing in trying to meet our housing targets and bolster the volume of housing being built in this country.

If we want to do that, though, we must get serious about increasing the amount of forestry being planted and remove the regulatory red tape around felling licences, maintenance and thinning, in which respects there are many challenges. We could be much more proactive and progressive. I wish we could try to do this. A significant amount of timber is being imported from places like Scotland that are further advanced in their use of timber in housing construction. When it comes to lowering the cost of construction in rural Ireland and having more sustainable practices in forestry, this is an area where we need to up our game. We have the right people at the helm in the Department to drive this forward. I encourage the Minister of State to do everything she can in the time between now and the next general election to take on the civil servants and demand that we make a change. Doing so would be for the good of society, lower building costs and give young people like myself an opportunity to buy a home some day. That is important.

I am passionate about this issue. I come from a family of landowners and farmers and I grew up on the land I knew. The Minister of State has a serious appreciation for that and our stories are not too dissimilar. I am passionate about improving Ireland's capacity to grow native species of trees. I would love to see a project in the south east to develop a national park of some description where native trees were planted, although not for commercial forestry use per se. The south east is missing something like that. There are many fabulous locations there. For example, the Comeraghs are a short drive from where I live in east Cork. There might be some scope to work with Coillte on considering how to segregate biodiversity and recreational areas. We are looking at bolstering our stock of native woodlands, so we could have segregated stock of native woodlands as well. This would make a major difference. From the point of view of education, providing a national park in the south east - to my knowledge, we do not have one currently, with most national parks being on the west coast - would have considerable benefit.

Killeagh is my home village and parish as well as being Joe Deane country, for people who are familiar with hurling terminology. Killeagh is a fabulous little village in east Cork and is where I grew up. We have a fabulous facility there in the form of Glenbower Wood, some of which is owned by Coillte. We have seen the impact that some aspects of forestry have had on the area. Perhaps the Government, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Office of Public Works, OPW, which is under the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, could consider taking such woodlands that are owned and maintained by Coillte and where there are already natural walkways into the ownership of the OPW or funding them through the Department so that they could be expanded and made available as amenities. I wish to cover commercial forestry, but I also wish to cover forestry's recreational side by considering the expansion of native woodlands. This is something about which I am deeply passionate. Fianna Fáil does not get as much praise as it should, but people like Charles Haughey and other former Fianna Fáil Members of this House always had a strong interest in preserving many facets of Ireland's biodiversity and expanding our native woodlands. This is something that has been lost, so I would like to see some work being done on it.

I wish the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, continued success, but I want to relay the fact that I am getting it in the neck from people involved in commercial forestry. They are not happy with the level of forestry that we are planting. As stated by Forest Industries Ireland, FII, people in the industry want to see planting increasing from 2,000 ha per year to 8,000 ha as quickly as possible to try to bolster timber production and limit the need for so much to be imported. Aside from the positive impact on the rural economy and the timber industry, this could have a positive knock-on effect on the housing crisis.

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