Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I completely agree with what the Deputy is saying. Alongside the work that is being done on hedgerows, Teagasc is also doing work on soil carbon and the effects of the losses and sequestration there. Mapping is important but I certainly believe with regard to public spaces, that is perhaps where the mapping aspect will come in.

We identify those areas where there are trees in public spaces but my Department actually supports public bodies to plant trees on publicly owned lands. This has been relatively successful and is open currently to local authorities or other public bodies which may have a little space where they might want to plant some trees. They can engage with us and my Department will cover the cost. Ultimately, we will be factoring all of these plantations into our inventory. At the moment, even within the forestry sector, it needs to be an area of over 0.1 ha to be included in the inventory, so a little bit of more flexibility may be required around that, and with smaller plots, for example.

See this speech in context