Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If this Government had dealt with the forestry licensing crisis that has been ongoing for some time now and treated existing forestry owners, including those with ash dieback, fairly, more farmers and landowners would plant forestry. Targets set by the Government would actually be met and we would not be in a situation where there is now an attempt to sell off rural communities.

Coillte's plans will take over thousands of hectares of farmland in rural communities to line the pockets of a foreign investment fund. This will be of zero benefit to our rural communities. Such a deal will also see this investment fund competing with locals, including young farmers, when it comes to purchasing land. Locals will not have a hope, as if farmers were not under enough pressure already. We have seen this happen already in housing.

We already know forestry contributes more than €2.3 billion annually to our economy and in rural communities, that is the local economy, the local shop, butcher and co-operative. That is not where this money will go under this proposed deal. Not one red cent of forestry premiums or grants should be paid to investment funds. This is taxpayers' money.

Rural proofing has been spoken about in this House for decades. My party introduced legislation on this in 2016 and I re-introduced that legislation with colleagues in 2021. The Government decided to produce its own mechanism and we are still waiting. An issue like this is precisely why we need a rural proofing mechanism. We need to put a stop to this attitude of indifference to the impact that policy decisions will have on those of us who live in rural communities. Forestry is already a contentious issue in some rural communities and that is usually down to poor engagement or lack of consultation. That is another reason why we need a forestry strategy. It is important that the Government does not underestimate the level of anger that is out there with regard to this issue. This is a bad deal that should be stopped.

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