Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Instead of trying to solve the problems encountered in forestry, the Government has run to the UK. We saw what the UK did to us. I refer to the investment in firms to solve the issues. Coillte, a semi-State company, owns 7% of Irish land. It has already transferred 12,000 ha to private ownership. To put it in context, that is equivalent to 50,000 hurling fields.

Where is the circular economy? The Government is giving grants to investors instead of supporting the farmers who will spend 100% of the funding in their local communities. Does the Minister understand what a circular economy is? It is when any investment made goes back into the community, but the Government has no interest in that. It has an appalling record of dealing with private individual. Coillte has several confidential agreements signed but how many of its deals are in front of the courts at the moment?

Now the Ministers want to go to ash dieback. They sold out the people who set land for ash dieback. They put nothing in place for them but a pittance. They threw those people to the wolves and left them alone. There is nothing in this for the people with ash dieback either, but the Government wants them to reinvest in forestry, does it not? Does it have any integrity at all when it comes to farmers?

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