Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In a few minutes, the Save our Forests - Save our Land coalition, which Labour is glad to support, will gather outside Leinster House to voice our opposition to the Coillte-Gresham House deal. It is a deal which we believe is wrong on many levels. I have already voiced my grave concerns about it in this House, as have my colleagues, Deputies Kelly and Sherlock. It will fundamentally be an arrangement which will facilitate the handing over of millions of euro of public money into the wallets of private investors and vulture funds. We are gravely concerned about that. As we know, the deal has drawn immense criticism and outrage from across all sectors, urban and rural alike, from environmentalists, farmers and local communities. Many of our constituents in Dublin Bay South voiced serious disquiet to us, as the Minister will know. Even Deputies on Government benches have made clear their opposition to the partnership between Coillte and Gresham House.

It begs the question of what is Government policy on forestry in Ireland. If there is concern on Government benches about this deal, as there appears to be, then will it be abandoned? Will there be a change in tack to address the crisis in the forestry sector? There is a bigger issue here too. The reality is that the forestry sector has been in crisis for many years. The crisis does not only affect those working in forestry but clearly has a significant impact on our ability to meet our vital climate targets because we cannot meet those targets unless every sector is working towards them. We cannot meet them without large-scale afforestation. The Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss was clear that State-owned woodlands should be recognised and managed as a strategic, long-term national asset for the common good. The State must take control of planting biodiverse forests and put an end to the expanse of clear-fell monoculture across the country. We all know, and I know the Minister knows, that Ireland's ancient native forests have been devastated by hundreds of years of unsustainable mismanagement.

We must prevent further destruction by profit-hungry funds but we do not even have a working forestry programme. The Government is meeting just one quarter of its own afforestation targets. The licensing system is in disarray, with delays of two years for the approval of afforestation licences.

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