Results 5,741-5,760 of 23,948 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is Coillte carrying out its function

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Deputy may have further questions for Coillte but to be clear it has commercial and contractual obligations as well and we must bear that in mind. As I outlined, Coillte had outlined broadly to stakeholders, Oireachtas Members and the Department that it was engaging in a process and exploring options related to investment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Our target is 8,000 ha and we have the funding for that. We want to do all we can to build towards it. It is going to be a big challenge to get there this year but we will get there and we have the platform and funding to do it. The economic fundamentals mean it makes sense to incorporate it into family farms as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It would be useful for all members if Mr. Delany outlined the state aid piece.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I have clearly outlined how we have engaged with Coillte on how to move forward and determine how the State can work with it to support it in its efforts to engage in afforestation and avail of opportunities to partner with farmers. That is the way forward. It is important to keep in context what has been agreed – the 4,000 ha of afforestation Coillte has signed up to with Gresham...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: ISIF is a division of the NTMA, which was set up-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: No, it operates independently with a policy remit and its decisions are made by the board. The board has made the decision. As with Coillte, ISIF is contractually obliged as well. Its board has signed up to the arrangement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It is a contractual obligation. ISIF and the NTMA operate independently of the Government, so it would not be legal to interfere in something they have already decided legally to do and invest in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I would. Of course, it is important to say we will not look to plant Louth twice over or to plant half of Cork directly because that would be fairly difficult to achieve. What we are looking to do-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: -----overall is increase the area under forestation nationally from 11.5% at present to 18% by 2050. We are looking to do that by encouraging ordinary farmers to do that. We will see ordinary farmers looking to do that. Small bits across the country add up very significantly. It will not be two bits the size of Louth but lots of small bits of forest - a hectare here, a couple of hectares...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I wish to make clear that Coillte has good staff who work hard and do a great job of managing its forests across the country. It has tremendous plans for how it will develop forestry on a 50:50 basis between native deciduous trees and conifers over the years ahead. All of its forests are being managed to provide open access to the public and the public will be able to use them. It will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I am confident from the engagement we have had with it. We will work closely to empower Coillte to do this really important work and to ensure the State can support it in doing that work, with the State being a lot more directly involved in terms of that financial support, potentially, and exploring how that can happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Deputy did not have too many questions. He outlined his views on this matter. I will say on behalf of the Minister of State and the officials present that we are very well served by the officials we have. We have a very strong Civil Service. It is one of the very strong things about this country. It is our role before this committee, and as Minister and Minister of State, to provide...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Coillte's overall ambition is in support of the Government's ambition. The Government's ambition is to deliver 450,000 ha of forestry by 2050, which Coillte is looking to support. In putting together the strategic vision, Coillte outlined that to make that happen, it was looking at a number of options, planning and public land being a significant part of that. It is also looking at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: And ourselves as well. As we see how it may play out, we have examined it in much more detail. Overall it is 3.5% of what Coillte's ambition would be between now and 2050. Like everything, you assess how things are moving and travelling and whether it is the right direction or whether you want to reorient. We are very clear we want to explore the State being centrally involved and farmers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is what it has contractually signed up to.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It is obliged to that. I have said our preference is to enable the State to work closely with Coillte and with farmers. What we are doing now is exploring all the mechanisms as to how we can make that work. That is our objective.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: It is the entirety of its legal and contractual obligation with Gresham House. For future afforestation, we want Coillte to do that working with the State and with farmers. We are looking at all the aspects that will be necessary to make sure that is the way we can go forward. We will continue to engage with the committee on that too to step that out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We will work very closely with Coillte in how we support it to do the afforestation and how we can support it from the State's point of view, as we outlined. We had a very long and thorough discussion with it last week. That is the direction in which we will be going.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Our objective is to give farmers a stronger position in doing afforestation. Farmers own the land and we want to encourage farmers to look at where they can incorporate forestry into their farming model in a way that works for them. We are also loading the premiums in favour of farmers by giving them one third extra-----