Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I am a mere Deputy in this House, I am going to read an email that has been sent to me by the private forestry sector which is clearly very angry.

The email states:

Just a couple of points from the private forestry sector perspective on the proposed Coillte-Gresham House partnership, particularly on the assertions of ministers McConalogue, Hackett and Ryan that Coillte are needed to reach our 8,000 hectare afforestation targets. ... The reason Ireland are failing to reach afforestation targets is not because Coillte are not participating but because the forest service in the department of Agriculture have literally made it impossible.

Historical issues leading to the decline.

- Arbitrary departmental policy decisions on land designations without any justification or scientific rationale reduced the supply of suitable forestry land to the private sector since 2010.

- Failing to ban plant imports and allowing Ash Dieback into Ireland was a clear dereliction of duty. The reluctance to provide adequate supports for farmers with dead plantations since has resulted in a decline in farmer participation in forestry.

- Above all, the shambolic forestry licensing system designed by the department has resulted in a complete collapse of the sector since 2016. This licensing scandal is now in its 6th year, why has this not been addressed.

- The final nail in the coffin is that currently and for the first time in living memory we don't even have any forestry program in place.

Furthermore, the minister has no idea when or even if the proposed programme will be ratified by the European Commission. For us, this means that in the depth of the worst crisis in the history of our industry that all schemes are now closed and our work terminated. In a climate emergency the ministers department have somehow created a situation where afforestation applications are not even being accepted. Surely Ireland is the only country on the planet where this is the case. No applicants permitted to plant trees, we are not open for business!

In numbers

The licensing output and stats on the ministers department for 2022 also needs to be questioned.

On target licence delivery, the Department’s own figures for Coillte felling are that the target was 1,530, licences issued were 1,687 and the target achieved was 110%. However, for private felling, the target was 1,830, licences issued were 1,606 and only 88% of the target was achieved. That is a pattern that the email sets out in a diagram. The email continues:

Coillte were issued 110% of their felling licence allocation for 2022.

- Only 68% of the private sector afforestation target reached.

- Four hundred and sixteen (416) private afforestation applications remain unprocessed.

I will run out of time before I finish the email but I want to highlight that there is palpable anger across the sector. The final lines of the email state:

[The Minister] Eamon Ryan spoke last week about having rules changed in the EU so Coillte could claim grants and premiums. Would it not make more sense to fix the forestry licencing system here and allow Farmers to plant their own land - or does that not fit their agenda?

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