Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and welcome the Minister of State. We have all gained from the two previous occasions we have had these debates on forestry. The Minister of State mentioned that he is preparing a programme for the new year and issuing important documents. I hope that he has benefitted from what we have been saying here. It has been a very good dialogue between us.

The purpose of amendment No. 2 is that the Minister shall issue a replanting order. The Bill provides that the Minister "may" issue a replanting order, and that would apply where trees had been felled or otherwise removed without a licence. The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that crime must not pay. While there is provision for a class E sanction and a €2,500 fine on conviction or indictment, the trees will not be replaced because of the use of the word "may". We want the trees back. That is what society as a whole wants. The amendment is, like the Minister of State, pro-trees. We are asking him to go harder on people who knock down some trees without an appropriate licence. That is the purpose of that amendment.

Amendment No. 3 provides that replanting must be implemented within one year of the felling of the previous trees. In section 26(9), the Bill is again more relaxed on the duties of people who have trees. It provides that "the Minister may, with the consent of the owner, issue a replanting order in respect of other land owned by the owner instead of the land concerned". It does not have a time limit on it. As we mentioned on Committee Stage, we are concerned about stumps being left around, which makes for an unattractive landscape. I have asked botanists if there are any obstacles to removing stumps and starting again and they say there are not. Providing for a time limit on the replanting order would help the Minister in his work as well. If people have an order for replanting they must proceed to do so rather than delaying it indefinitely with the resulting lunar landscape that we have in certain parts of County Wicklow.

The purpose of both of these amendments are to protect forests and to ensure that they are replaced. They are in the spirit of the Bill and of the discussions that we had on the two previous Stages.