Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In the event that there are more than 50,000 applicants, can extra funding be drawn from somewhere? I agree with what Deputy Kerrane said earlier. I am concerned that we have such input and co-operation from our farming sector but in major sectors such as forestry, we are unable to get to grips with what should be one of our greatest assets in terms of reducing carbon emissions, which is to sow trees. We are letting farmers do it through ACRES. They are planting trees and hedges and are doing so quite efficiently but the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine cannot do it. We just cannot get to grips with it. We are penalising every other sector because we are not planting trees efficiently. If we were doing so and improving our forestry in the way we should, we would not have to be kowtowing to the EU in relation to the nitrates directive. There are other mechanisms and the Minister knows it. There are lots of other ways that we can reduce our carbon emissions but we are concentrating solely on the agricultural sector and penalising farmers to within an inch of their lives.

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