Dáil debates

Thursday, 10 February 2022

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

Forestry Sector

10:40 am

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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100. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether the costs of maintenance of forests less than four years old have increased dramatically since January 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7054/22]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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My question is more thematic in the sense that we are focusing heavily now on afforestation targets and the toolkit that is the dashboard. It has become the tool everybody now uses as the benchmark for progress on afforestation targets. The increase in the cost of living and the cost of inputs was alluded to earlier and concerns around fertiliser are also wrapped up in this question. Has the Minister now abandoned the afforestation target of 8,000 ha per year? That is ultimately the question I wish to hear answered. That is bound up in the specific question I have asked.

Photo of Pippa HackettPippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. The question he has asked is not the one I have on my page. Perhaps we have moved away from the question that was submitted but that is fine and we can deal with both.

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I invite the Minister of State to give us her personal perspective on afforestation. I would be delighted to hear it.

Photo of Pippa HackettPippa Hackett (Green Party)
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The Deputy has asked about increase in the cost of living. The question I was provided with related to whether the costs of maintaining forests in the first four years have gone up. I understood the Deputy was referring to the general cost of participation in the forestry schemes. That is something which is under general review under Project Woodland. The reference to four years is presumably relating to the way my Department currently administers its establishment grant scheme. Under this, a proportion of the establishment grant is retained until year 4 of the establishment of the forest to ensure that it is developing as it should. This is done in the interests of protecting the landowner.

As the Deputy may be aware, Project Woodland was established in February 2021 to ensure that the current licensing backlog is addressed and that a new impetus is brought to woodland creation in Ireland. A national shared vision for the future of Ireland's trees and forests and a new forestry strategy are currently being developed. That will guide how we deal with the afforestation issue over the years and decades ahead. The new forest strategy will underpin a new forestry programme for the period 2023 to 2027.

An extensive public consultation process on the new strategy has commenced and stakeholders will have an opportunity to raise any issues they feel need to be addressed with my Department. Work on the next forestry programme will include a review of grant rates and my Department will examine current forestry operational costs during that process.

In the meantime, my Department is introducing an enhanced payment for applicants and forestry companies to acknowledge the additional cost of submitting the various environmental reports where required. This will be delivered through a higher payment at form 2 stage, which is the payment made when planting is complete. In addition, we will also examine a feasibility study into various grant payment approaches.

A licensing strategy for 2022 has just been published which has set ambitious targets this year of increasing licensing output by 30% and more than doubling the afforestation target by increasing it by 107%. This builds on the gains made in improved licensing last year which was 56% higher than the previous year.

It will be an important confidence booster for all with an interest in seeing more trees planted in Ireland and I firmly believe it must be matched by a renewed effort by all to promote the benefits of afforestation to farmers and landowners.

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for her answer. The announcement of a target of 1,040 licences for 2022 indicates to me that the forest service has abandoned the target of planting 8,000 ha this year. Tracking back over the numbers from recent years, the issuing of 1,040 licences would result in the planning of only 4,000 ha.

I am not convinced, as the Minister of State is, that all of the stakeholders through Project Woodland are as enthusiastic about the future of forestry policy. I think some of those stakeholders are becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of ambition. I would certainly like to work with the Minister of State to see how we can be more ambitious in attaining and achieving those targets, precisely for the reasons she has outlined in respect of carbon sequestration and a proper policy intervention.

10:50 am

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I put it to the Minister of State, however, that the lack of ambition here is disappointing. I mean that genuinely.

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I have targets too.

Photo of Pippa HackettPippa Hackett (Green Party)
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SI thank the Deputy. To clarify, the ambition of more than 1,040 licences equates to more than 8,000 ha of afforestation. The concern is that we are issuing afforestation licences and they are not being taken up.

Currently, in excess of 5,000 ha of afforestation licences have been issued but have not been planted. The ambition is there. It falls on us all to make a concerted effort to encourage and support farmers and landowners to plant. There is great pressure now on land use. We read today in the Irish Farmers' Journalabout the pressure from conacre and the leasing element. We must do all we can to encourage our farmers to plant the trees for which they get the licences.

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I do not doubt that the Minister of State is extremely genuine in what she seeks to achieve. There is no doubt about that in my mind. Dare I suggest, respectfully, there is a level of granularity that needs to be worked through. That must be acknowledged.

The Minister of State said the Department will reach the 8,000 ha target this year. That remains to be seen. I suggest respectfully that the stakeholders are not seeing the reality of that in the issuance of new afforestation licences. The proof of that is in the toolkit, which is the dashboard. The aspiration might be there but the evidence of the practical outworking of reaching the afforestation targets is not.

Photo of Pippa HackettPippa Hackett (Green Party)
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It comes down to the fact that the ambitions are there. The rate of planting is a big concern. My Department has engaged with the forestry companies as to why their clients are not planting. We are also going to write to the holders of afforestation licences, that is, those who have been in receipt of a licence for more than six months, to ascertain one on one what the issues are and whether they have changed their minds or leased their lands to a neighbouring farmer.

We absolutely need to get down to the granular level from which we are seeking to obtain that information. All I can say is we really need that concerted effort to get farmers planting and landowners engaged in this again. It is going to be a massive part of our future. It is essential that we get a start on that as soon as possible.