Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tony Killeen. I have to commend him because the ink is not even dry on the renewed programme for Government and he is already acting on it. The Bill provides for a 400% increase in the statutory borrowing limit for Coillte, which is fantastic. I also commend and agree with Senator Coffey that all parties are developing good green policies. Senator Norris has stated we are not developing indigenous green shoots; I can tell him that we are, as this Bill is all about indigenous green shoots.

I understand that nearly €2 billion, or 1% of our GDP, currently comes from forestry. That will be increased significantly. Currently, 11% of the country is covered by forests and we want to increase this to 17% by 2030. Nearly one third of Germany is covered in forestry, so it shows that we have a long way to go. There has been an increase this year of nearly 6,000 hectares of new forests, which has led to nearly 1,000 new jobs. If we reach the target of 15,000 hectares per annum, then we need to ramp this up. We could create 2,500 jobs in parts of the country where it is difficult to create jobs. I commend various Members who have spoken about ecotourism, renewable energy and the carbon credit system. There are 16,000 people currently working in the industry.

Ten per cent of the land area in my county of Galway is covered by forestry, while only 3.96% of Dublin is covered. There are many different areas in Dublin that are suitable for forestry, so we should increase that figure. Wicklow is the county containing the highest percentage of forestry, at 21%. Forests take out 2.2 million tonnes of carbon per annum in this country, and that is saving the taxpayer €44 million, which is fantastic. There have been 18 million ecotourism visits to forest parks, which generates €268 million indirectly. I am baffling myself with statistics, but this is a win-win story for Ireland. It is a long-term issue, as the targets are set for 2030.

The current Government is taking the issue very seriously under the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen. The Green Party believes we are dealing with ecotourism, renewable energy sources such as wood chip and wind energy under Coillte, which is saving on carbon emissions. I thank the Minister of State and I ask him to keep up the good work. I commend this Bill to the House.