Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for their contributions. It is clear that across the House, while there are different views on where we are headed, everyone wants the forestry sector to be successful. That is important to acknowledge. We need it to be a success in the context of the climate, nature, water quality, wood production, our people, the wider economy and rural areas.

I welcome Deputy Bruton's comments. I was glad to hear him talk about the use of timber in buildings. It is something we need to progress significantly. We need an integrated approach. We spend a lot of time talking about the need to get trees in the ground but the end-product use has a significant contribution to make to our climate action, particularly in the built environment.

On carbon credits and carbon farming, Deputy O'Donoghue asked why we are not doing it. There is no mechanism yet to do it. We await proposals from the European Commission, which are due to be published shortly. When they are, in the Department we will study them and examine what is in there. A group has been established in the Department to examine the many issues relating to carbon farming and carbon credits. It is on our agenda to examine.

I was disappointed to hear the comments of Deputy Carthy to the effect that he has not heard from anyone in the sector who has confidence. I have spoken to many of the forestry companies, who say their phones are ringing. Farmers are enthused by these new rates. That incentive is important for farmers.

In the debate between the farmers and the investors, the farmers are the big winners here, and rightly so because we will be heavily reliant on them over the coming decades if we are to meet our afforestation targets. Not only have farmer premiums been extended to 20 years, with non-farmers still getting 15 years, but farmers are entitled to retain their basic payment scheme, BPS, payments on forested land. Non-farmers do not have those entitlements. In addition, as I referenced my opening speech, organic farmers will be entitled to receive both their organic payment and their forestry premium on agroforestry land. That is a significant element. If we are to hit those targets, and some Deputies have indicated we may well need to go above and beyond the 8,000 ha per year, we need to use every tool at our disposal, including private lands, farmers' lands and public lands as well as private investment.

Most Deputies spoke about ash dieback. I acknowledge the ongoing concerns and I know it is a major issue. I visited many of the sites of ash dieback around the country. I have been consistent in recent months. There is a scheme for ash dieback, the reconstitution and underplanting scheme, RUS, introduced in the summer of 2020. We have given it time and we have heard the feedback. It would be timely to have some sort of review, and I have committed to doing this in the new year. It is something I want to engage with. I understand and acknowledge the damage it has done to confidence in sector. We need to do something about that. My Department is working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to change the legislation. I think Deputy Lowry referred to the difficulty landowners are having in converting to a conifer base after ash dieback. We are looking to make that easier for applicants.

Some Deputies need to get their facts right. There was a sense that forestry is in as bad a place as it ever was. There have been significant improvements in the delivery of licences. My Department has made a significant investment of time and money in making processes more effective, and that can be seen. I certainly recommend people to check out www.gov.ie/forestryto get all the updated information.

Some Deputies commented on the licensing process and Deputy Mythen referred to a statutory period. We have examined this in great detail. I commissioned Philip Lee solicitors to examine the regulatory process. I would recommend anyone who has concerns about licences and why we cannot just issue one licence for the whole process to read the Philip Lee report, which is on my Department's website. It is a very comprehensive detailed report. It takes a bit of digestion but it goes through it in great detail with some very positive recommendations. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet but it contains recommendations we will pursue. We think they will deliver improvements into the future in how we issue our licences.

Deputy O'Connor took a balanced approach. He accepted we need conifers for the commercial side of things but we also need the broadleaf. That is the balance we are trying to strike, the balance that has come through from our consultation, which has lasted about a year at this stage. That is what is in our forestry strategy and programme. As I said in my opening statement, those two sizeable documents are out for public consultation until next Tuesday. People should read them, see what is there and give feedback into that process. I hope some Deputies or even their political parties might do that. We need to hear all those views.

Deputy Sherlock and one other asked whether we need a forest development agency. Since entering office my focus has been on fixing the issues that had this sector in turmoil. As I said, my Department has made significant progress in this regard. The backlog in appeals is gone. The supply of timber into the sector is strong. The urgent focus now is on the afforestation levels that many Deputies referred to. We need to get farmers re-engaged with tree planting. My Department already supports the work of Teagasc and we have supported the private sector to the tune of a couple of million euro over recent years in forestry promotion. The establishment of a stand-alone agency would need to be the subject of a cost-benefit analysis. Would it deliver any more than we are delivering as it is? At the moment the focus is on getting the new programme up and running and delivering on our forest strategy.

A number of Sinn Féin Deputies referred to the Mackinnon report. More than half of the recommendations have been completed with significant progress on the others. That has been through the work of Project Woodland. Deputy Boyd Barrett said that something like 57% of the members of my forestry policy group are commercial. I do not know what his terminology was. I have a stakeholder group of 26 people from across the spectrum. We could have six NGO members. We have representatives from communities, representatives from the sector itself, farmer organisation representatives and forest owner representatives. We have every possible representative on there. I say this all the time: credit is due to the members of that because it is a difficult group with very diverse opinion. It is certainly not a commercially focused group as Deputy Boyd Barrett implied. We have kept everyone together and I thank them for their time on that. Project Woodland is essentially coming towards its end. It was established to implement the Jo O'Hara report, which was essentially her review of the Mackinnon report. We are coming to the end of that process, which is to be welcomed.

I was disappointed to hear Deputy Fitzmaurice speak so negatively about forestry, particularly when we are going to be reliant on the hard-working farmers of this country to plant. It would be good to have a bit more positivity there. I reiterate that I believe it is an exciting time for forestry. It is a complex area, but if we get it right, it has an enormous amount to offer. I accept the pressure from other land uses, but I am confident the building blocks the Government is putting in place mean we will get it right. Our shared national vision is a vision worth striving for. We will get there. If we deliver on our forest strategy to 2030, we will be well on the road to that. The first step is getting the forestry programme up and running as early as possible in January so that we can get farmers re-engaged and planting trees in the ground. The Government is giving this new programme its full backing with this historic package of €1.3 billion. We need the sector and everyone in the House to back the next forestry programme and to back the sector to deliver on its enormous potential.

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