Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Tully and Carthy. The farmers will make the assessment as to whether the Minister is listening to them or what he is doing for them. I thank my colleague, Deputy Carthy, for bringing this motion to the floor of the House. The Minister is not listening. People in rural Ireland, including Mayo, are completely perplexed and alarmed by what he is trying to do in facilitating this disastrous anti-rural initiative. I am alarmed when he says there is nothing we can do about this, that the deal is already done with Gresham House. It is a major mistake on the part of the Minister, the Minister of State and the Government. It reminds me of when the then Fine Gael Minister for Finance told us we needed the vulture funds to be here because we could not build our own houses. Now the Minister is telling us we need the investment funds here because we cannot grow our own trees. We have thousands of farmers all over the country who are willing and able to do that.

We fought long and hard enough and made too many sacrifices to be in control of our own lands. The Minister is telling us that up to 123,000 acres of that land is going to be given over to investment funds and that somehow they are coming in here to help us out with our climate challenges and climate change initiatives. They are here to make money. At least be honest with the farmers and communities around the country. These funds are driven by profit maximisation and greed. At least be straight with people.

The afforestation target of 8,000 ha per year is very modest. We reached those levels in 2010 and since then the system has been grinding to a halt. In the last two years, we have barely broken 2,000 ha per annum. We need Coillte to have the ability to contribute to and deliver on our environmental targets. The British investment company, Gresham House, has seen an opportunity not only to invest in the land and forestry sector but also to access the public funding for the grant aid intended to compensate farmers for the low income that comes from non-productive land until newly planted trees are mature. They see an opportunity to buy up large swathes of land and to benefit from public money of up to €1,100 per hectare over 20 years. Farmers and local communities are being abandoned and they rightly feel let down by this Government.

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