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

-----and there will be no privatisation of public land. I have made that clear in my original statement. There will be no privatisation of public land. That is the point. In fact, I would favour more State acquisition of land for forestry. That is the position the leaders of the Government have discussed with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Again, we have to be careful of State aid compliance in how we do all of that and that is the issue in terms of whatever we do. The more fundamental point, however, is that we are not planting enough trees at the moment at all. We really have to grow exponentially the amount of trees, particularly native woodlands, and I want more purchase of land for native woodlands in this country. We should really embark on that programme.

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