Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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6. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the role he envisages forestry playing in helping Ireland meet European Union climate mitigation targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41393/15]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We have discussed forestry many times in this House. I was glad and, more importantly, champions of forestry were very glad to hear the Minister's recent comments to the effect that he sees afforestation as a key measure to deal with our CO2 emissions problems. In representing the view of those who champion forestry, I have emphasised the value of agroforestry as a key measure in mitigating climate change as well as all the other benefits that go with it. Does the Minister accept our afforestation targets are a little unambitious? He is talking about planting 43,000 ha by 2020 which only amounts to some 6,000 ha per year and is still well below what we would need to hit the 17% coverage target.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Deputy and I are in agreement on the importance of forestry. Ireland is well below the European average in terms of forest cover and we are responding to that in several ways. We have a very active State-owned company, Coillte, that is looking to expand and invest in its forestry interests and to that end is taking a new approach to its work. We are one of the very few countries in Europe that is actively promoting afforestation of agricultural land, and that is where almost all the afforestation has come from in recent years. Through all the financial pressures and reductions in expenditure across different areas, from which I have tried my best to insulate agriculture, there has been no cut at all in the forestry funds. We have been spending €119 million on afforestation right through the past five years in the context of very difficult budgetary choices. To clarify, that is all Exchequer money; none of it comes from the EU. We will continue to prioritise forestry and if we can afford to spend more, we will do so.

Our target is to get 6,000 or 7,000 ha planted annually. It is a realistic target which has been very much championed by the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes. It makes sense from an afforestation point of view, from an environmental perspective and in terms of landowner income, because forestry suits certain types of agricultural land. In addition, and what is becoming increasingly relevant, is that afforestation has a major part to play in achieving Ireland's climate change targets in the context of an overall European target of a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030. Ireland was paddling a lone canoe on this issue for a long time but we now have agreement in the European Council that afforestation of agricultural land will count as a positive in the calculation of the overall emissions challenge of agriculture and land use. That is a major achievement which we must hold on to in the context of the setting of those targets. If we do not do that, we will have a very unbalanced picture of the contribution of agricultural land to the emissions challenge.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister and I certainly are in agreement on the principle here, which I am very glad to hear. However, we need to be more ambitious and to push this as far and as effectively as we can. The Programme of Competitive Forestry Research for Development, COFORD, estimates that to achieve our 17% forestry target by 2014, we need to be planting 15,000 ha per annum. We are still well short of that. Will the Minister expand on Coillte's change of strategy? To date, that body has failed quite spectacularly in its remit in this regard. EU rules around grants and so on have something to do with that, but the fact is Coillte has not contributed significantly to afforestation. The Minister might explain how this will change, because it needs to change.

Second, the Minister might consider a dedicated unit to explain to farmers the advantages of agroforestry and how it can contribute positively towards their farming.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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They should not see it as being in competition with other farming activities, rather it should complement them as well as helping us to deal with the urgent climate change challenge.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to the Deputy.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I agree with all that. I reassure the Deputy that the Department has a forestry section based in Wexford. We prioritise forestry and the section is almost a stand-alone unit, promoting what it does. The Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, is in charge of it politically. It has done a very good job in ensuring it holds on to budgets. Agriculture has been progressing over the past five years and there is considerable competition for land. Land prices now are strong and remained so throughout the recessionary period, as evidenced through leasing prices. There is significant demand for land among dairy, beef and arable farmers.

Persuading farmers to plant agricultural land with trees has always been a challenge and it has been a particular challenge in recent years as farmers prepare for expansion and so on. We can see that in the demand for land. In this context, we have been maintaining between 6.000 ha and 7,000 ha a year, which has been a pretty good performance. We intend to maintain that even with the dairy and other agricultural growth we envisage in coming years. We predict we will be exporting €19 billion worth of food and drink by 2025.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We are currently at less than €12 billion. We are looking at sustainable intensification of agriculture, but we are also looking at a very strong sustainability story in terms of how we use land, and forestry is a big part of that.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to the Minister.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There are two aspects of this. One is trying to encourage farmers to see the benefits of forestry. I am learning as I go. We need to get the message across to farmers about how the different types of agroforestry can benefit them. They need to see it as a win-win situation rather than seeing it as a competition over land use for existing farming activities. We need to educate people and promote it in a proactive way to get farmers on board. If we do, it will be a win-win.

On Coillte, we need to think about moving beyond the industrialised single-species approach to afforestation because the most effective climate-mitigating species are the native broadleaf species. They have deeper roots and are much better at all levels - better for carbon sequestration, better for the land and so on. However, Coillte has not delivered significantly in this area. Mr. Colm McCarthy estimated that Coillte has about 500,000 acres of land that it did not deem commercially viable for forestry.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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With a bit of imagination that land could be used for forestry if it were given to local communities, co-operatives and so on.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, has just told me that producer groups and co-operatives are being set up to try to create economies of scale for forestry.

I will allow Coillte management to outline its new plans and business model as well as the public value delivery model that Coillte has in place and will have in place for the next five to ten years. Coillte needs to manage a number of things. First, it needs to be a successful commercial forestry company. However, it needs to do more than just pay for itself. It needs to deliver a dividend for the State from a financial, recreational, land management, environmental, carbon sink and emissions perspective. All those things need to be balanced in the design of that business model, but fundamentally Coillte needs to pay its own way. It certainly should not be forced to sell off forest harvesting rights, land or other assets to be able to balance the books.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is not an acceptable approach and Coillte is ensuring that will not be the case in future.

I have had long discussions with Coillte representatives, as has the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes. They are under no illusions in terms of the broader public good value it has and the responsibilities it has towards recreation-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I have to go on to the next question.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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-----and managing-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Sorry, Minister, I have to call Deputy Fitzmaurice.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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-----native species as well as commercial timber.