Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Irish farmers are the primary stakeholders of Irish land. Rural Ireland does not have a future without the family farm and Irish farmers should have been the vehicle to deliver solutions in relation to Irish land. Farmers have the best record in terms of afforestation in this country. Given that the incomes of farmers have been reduced so significantly for so long in this country, it is shocking that the Government did not seek to roll out this particular project through farmers in order to ensure that the income generated accrued to them. Irish farmers must be the vehicle of afforestation here. It is also vital that carbon credits accrued from planting should be for the benefit of farmers as well.

Another important issue is that when this land is purchased, the amount of land available to farmers is reduced. Obviously, the price could of land could increase. Furthermore, if that land is taken out of food production it will have a negative effect on farmers' ability to function. Afforestation, especially with native trees, should have a significant positive effect on biodiversity and I welcome the fact that the Minister of State indicated in her speech that the Government will seek to ensure a 50:50 breakdown between native trees and trees for industry and timber production. That is positive but in terms of this particular vehicle, that is not going to be the mix vis-à-visthe types of trees planted.

Farmers should be the guardians of the biodiversity that exists within this country. We need farmers and the health of our land to be in a symbiotic relationship. Biodiversity can also have an economic benefit to society. In my own county of Meath, the Dunsany estate has done a significant job in increasing the biodiversity on the estate which has attracted a lot of interest from people. It is visited regularly by people who want to see what can be done to reverse biodiversity loss.

The fact that the Government uses the excuse that Coillte is a semi-State body is deeply frustrating. There is an instinct in this Government to outsource decision-making to other organisations. Coillte is a semi-State body but the Government sets the parameters by which it functions and can change those parameters at any stage. It reminds me of the situation with regard to the ESB. Before Christmas people were rightly giving out about the fact that the ESB was making super-normal profits at a time when people were suffering in a cost-of-living crisis but the Government shrugged and said that the ESB is a semi-State body and that it could do nothing about the situation. Blame is also often outsourced to the EU and I heard the Minister of State do that on this occasion. We must put the self-determination of this country first, especially in the context of vehicles that do good in our society, such as the planting of trees and the building of houses. For too long, this State has sought to be the best boy in the class when it comes to the EU and the disastrous effect this had on our sugar industry is just one example of many. Think of the ethanol that would have been available right now to replace carbon fuels if sugar was still grown here. The Government must remember that it is our representative in the EU and not the EU's representative here.

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