Déirdre de Búrca (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Wallace, to the House. I congratulate her on her new portfolio and wish her well with it. I have no doubt she has various ideas on the way she would like that portfolio to develop and change. Perhaps I could be so bold as to make some suggestions to her.

The Green Party has long been interested in the issue of forestry and we now find ourselves a party of Government along with the Minister's party. We have made several commitments in the programme for Government, which I will mention, that I believe will be positive in the area of forestry, but in a general way I hope the Minister might examine the area of forestry and the narrow commercial focus that has been brought to bear on forestry in recent years and begin to change that somewhat.

Previous speakers pointed out that there are many other benefits and dividends from forestry that are not just the narrow economic and commercial benefits we might focus on when discussing forestry in a debate such as this one. There are a range of environmental services such as fresh air, clean water, fertile soil and climate stability. Trees help prevent soil erosion, drought and flooding and as previous speakers pointed out, only 10% of our land area is tree covered even though the average in other European Union member states is approximately 30% to 35%. It is something we must consider in terms of encouraging forestry but also examining its value and the returns it provides for this country in a broader way than the narrow economic way it is sometimes viewed.

Previous speakers spoke about climate change. What we are doing regarding the Kyoto Protocol and the emissions reductions targets we have agreed to is factoring carbon dioxide emissions into the economic cost-benefit analysis when we are examining any economic activity. It has been pointed out that trees provide a carbon sink; they are what we might call carbon assets. The non-timber benefits of forestry must be emphasised and previous speakers spoke of proposals that have been made where farmers might get financial support in terms of the non-timber benefits of the forestry projects in which they engage. In the light of the Kyoto Protocol and other commitments this country has made, we should examine that because if we do not we will end up paying fines for being in breach of the targets to which we signed up. It is much more positive to do something constructive such as encouraging more forestry with all of the other environmental and recreational benefits to which people have referred. Trees have an aesthetic value and contribute to landscape character and improving the quality of all our lives. I hope the Minister might take that broader approach to developing forestry in this country than has been taken to date.

I refer to a study the Minister of State's Department commissioned and that yielded interesting information. A national forestry inventory was carried out by her Department and it involved a detailed field survey of Ireland's forests to assess their composition and also the condition of the entire national forest estate, both public and private. It established that there are 2.4 billion trees growing in forests in the Republic and that they contain 30 million tonnes of carbon assets, which is considerable. My county of Wicklow emerged as the county with the highest percentage of forest cover, at 18%, while Cork had the largest forest area with 77,700 hectares. The inventory took three years to complete and established that 10% of the State's total land area is under forest. It found also that 57% of the forests in the State are now in public ownership while 43% are held privately. Interestingly, of the private forests, 30% were grant aided and 13% were held in other ways.

The survey also found that almost two thirds of the national forests are under 20 years old, which is worrying and suggests that the newer planted forests are part of the shorter-term commercial forestry as opposed to the longer-term approach to forestry mentioned by previous speakers that involve the planting of broadleaf trees, preferably native ones, and forestry that will be longer-term in its duration and lifespan than the short rotation commercial forestry such as the Sitka spruce and other commercial forestry.

The inventory also gave a breakdown of the type of trees that are being grown and established and pointed out that 25% of the national forests are broadleaf and the remainder, 75%, are conifer tree species. It established also that more than 20% of the afforested area was planted with native tree species and one quarter of the forest stands had three or more tree species present. Of major importance was the discovery that there were no significant threats to the health and vitality of the forests, which was a welcome finding.

In the programme for Government we have committed jointly to promoting a diverse forestry culture with an emphasis on native trees, and the Minister of State indicated her intentions in the area of increasing the supply of native trees. We are also committed to ensuring forestry continues to give an important income stream to farmers through the forest premium scheme that has been substantially increased under the partnership process. We have agreed to develop new markets for thinning linked to the increased need for renewable energy sources. We have agreed also to promote forestry plantation to increase biomass production demand in the building and fuel markets and to provide carbon sinks to combat climate change. We have agreed also to review the forest environmental payment schemes pilot, which is under way, with a view to a full roll-out in the years ahead, and to reviewing the forest premium levels and ensuring a minimum of 30% broadleaf will be planted annually by 2012. I hope that when this target for broadleaf is being achieved we emphasise the importance of native broadleaf and not just broadleaf generally. We have agreed to initiate a review of the Forestry Acts and programmes to reflect sustainable, social and environmental objectives. That is a welcome objective.

An important report was drawn up recently of which I would like to remind the Minister of State. I understand she is aware of its existence. It was the joint COFORD-EPA report, Biodiversity in Irish Plantation Forests, which made 57 recommendations, including a call for the establishment of a biological record centre. Some of those actions would involve the Department of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, but I hope there would be close synergy between the Minister's Department and that of the Minister, Deputy Gormley, in terms of complying with some of those recommendations.

The bioforest project, which was one of the largest undertakings on biodiversity research conducted in Ireland, concluded that in general forestry plantations could make a significant contribution to biodiversity if they were properly planned but, if not, would have a negative effect. The study also found that each local authority should establish ecological advisory units. It pointed out that in the past local authorities have not had the in-house technical expertise available to comment on conservation issues pertaining to grant applications, particularly forestry related conservation issues. However, the appointment of heritage officers has begun to remedy that deficiency and the establishment of ecology units would rectify the situation.

Another far-reaching recommendation of the report was that semi-natural habitats should not be afforested unless there were mitigating circumstances. It recommended that, where possible, improved grassland or arable land should be used for afforestation instead of semi-natural habitats, especially in landscapes that were dominated by intensive farming.

I will put to the Minister of State one or two of the objectives from the Green Party's manifesto in the area of forestry, which ties in with the objectives we have agreed in the programme for Government. The Forestry Act 1988 should be reviewed to restructure Coillte, so that it gives equal consideration to the social, recreational and environmental objectives necessary for a sustainable forestry programme. An immediate restructuring programme of existing plantations should be implemented to address the problems apparent after a policy of planting non-native, fast-growing conifer monocultures and a research project should be set up to identify the range of broad leaf species with economic potential.