Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Forestry is one of the key components that can deliver lower emissions and contribute substantially to our domestic construction industry. It also has a major role to play in reducing global warming and achieving our emission targets. However, we must all learn the lessons from our over-reliance on imported energy and fuel and the consequences of Russia's invasion of a sovereign nation, including the domestic consequences where we are being held to ransom by suppliers and middle brokers who are making significant profits, scandalously profiteering from a pricing system that charges the same for a unit of gas as for a unit of energy produced by free wind. Therefore, we must invest even more in our forestry and afforestation.

The €1.3 billion announced by the Government is welcome. It gives Ireland an opportunity to become a leading example in managing afforestation and forestry and the capacity to contribute to substantial reductions in our carbon emissions. To achieve this, we must consider the existing weaknesses and the slow, grinding processing of applications and licensing. Six months into this year alone, the number of afforestation licences issued was behind target by 43%, with private felling licences behind target by 18%. This situation must be tackled. Farmers who have been granted licences to plant are choosing not to do so simply because they do not want to go through the same long rigmarole of a process to be granted felling licences. I ask the Minister of State to provide for a set statutory period within which applicants are entitled to a decision on their licensing applications. If this fundamental issue is not addressed, then all future plans for afforestation and the industry will be in jeopardy.

Let us remember that afforestation missed today cannot be made up in subsequent years. The successful model already exists. In our neighbour, Scotland, the Mackinnon recommendations were fully adopted. Within 12 months, Scotland's afforestation stabilised and, within 24 months, target levels doubled. The same senior civil servant, Mr. Jim Mackinnon, published a report for the Irish sector in 2019, yet the Government's response was to commission an implementation report on that report. How many reports do we need?

The message here is to act now. This is a national asset that can be harnessed into a thriving industry for the benefit of all our citizens. It is possibly the only industry that can be future-proofed. It is a national resource that can provide citizens with a healthy environment that can be enjoyed by all and help with their well-being. Agriculture can remove carbon through forestry. I urge the Minister of State to take on board the issues I have raised, recognise the importance of stakeholders - the farmers - and provide a streamlined licensing process that gets this industry back on its feet as quickly as possible.

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