Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is clear that to meet the 18% forest target set out in our national forest strategy, we have a huge amount of work to do. We need to plant an additional 500,000 acres and, therefore, it is important that we continue to examine all of our lands, invest in research and make the best decisions possible. A huge amount of work has happened and more is under way to address our overall forestry targets and approach. To outline some of that progress, we have a new forestry programme from 2023 to 2027, approved by the previous Government on 6 September 2023, which the Deputy was part of, with funding of €1.3 billion. The programme provides unprecedented incentives to encourage the planting of trees as well as a range of measures to support owners of existing forests to manage their forest sustainably, forest creation measures, including native woodland expansion, and planting of small native tree areas. We have a comprehensive package of measures, including the programme, with an increase in forestry premiums of between 46% and 66%. Farmers will receive 20 years of premium payments compared with 15 years for non-farmers. We also have forestry licensing, which is a complex process due to the requirements to take account of environmental requirements, which are set out in both national and EU law. All of these measures in the programme are measures that will continue, which were supported by the Deputy and the previous Government.

Anything that we do in this regard has to be backed by and informed by science. That is not going to change. That is the approach that we have taken from the outset. It is for those reasons that we have started to see significant progress on climate. It is one of the most pressing challenges for our society. It is already causing an increased occurrence of extreme weather events, whether those are storms or flooding. We only have to look at Storm Éowyn recently, at once-disappearing lakes in County Roscommon and the midlands, which are now permanent, and the impact that it is having on homes. We have to take action and address the root causes while at the same time making sure that we prepare for the impacts of climate change. It is working. I am not saying it is working at the rate and speed that we want it to, but it is certainly working.

Looking at our emissions, the most recent inventory report from July 2024 shows a decrease of 6.8% in Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. This is compared with 2022 when we saw a 1.9% reduction on the previous year. It is reducing further for the year coming. Where have we seen that reduction? There is a 21.6% reduction in electricity, 5.8% in industry, 4.6% in agriculture, where we are making progress, and 7.1% in residential. This is all because of the interconnection, increased renewable energy capacity, reduced nitrogen fertiliser use in agriculture, and fewer fossil fuels in our home, all at a time when last year alone we saw a 5% increase in our overall economy. Our economy is growing yet we are still managing to reduce our overall emissions. The work that has been done and the measures that have been put in place include those of the previous Government, in which we worked together collectively, but also those started by Richard Bruton when he was Minister for climate in 2019, when there was the first all-of-government climate strategy. All of us this work collectively, backed by, adhering to and following science, has brought about these changes. We absolutely need to do more, which is exactly what we will do.

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