Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, to the House and I thank him for his very comprehensive contribution, some of which I will mention during my brief contribution. On behalf of my colleague, Senator Paul Daly, who is unavoidably absent, I thank the Minister of State for his opening comments. My party, Fianna Fáil, is committed to developing the forestry sector in Ireland which plays a critical role in environmental, economic and social policy. The forestry industry, which consists of the growing, harvesting and processing of forestry, makes a massive contribution to the economy, estimated at €2.2 billion per annum with around 12,000 jobs dependent on that sector. Timber production is in the region of 3 million cu. m every year, with around 20% of this amount produced from private landowners.

Forests, as the Minister of State has mentioned, cover 10.5% of the country’s land area against the EU average of 38%, showing the substantial progress that has yet to be made here.

I grew up on the fringes of Killykeen Forest Park in County Cavan, a beautiful 240 ha forest set on the shores of Lough Oughter. That incorporates 74 acres with 28 log cabins that have recently been sold to a private entity by Coillte and I look forward to that developing in the near future for the benefit of the local community. In the future I would like to see more investment, in Killykeen Forest Park, in particular because it is a beautiful amenity and it is open to huge development. There could be major benefit to the local community. Further down the road in Kingscourt in east County Cavan is the Dún a Rí Forest Park which forms part of what was formerly the Cabra estate which was owned by the Pratt family. Legend stretches back to the time of Cú Chulainn, the Gaelic warrior who rested in these woods while fighting the armies of Queen Maeve of Connacht. There is a great diversity of wildlife in the park and the flora is varied and in many areas spectacular. Just across the border from south County Cavan, in County Longford there are plans well under way to develop a Center Parcs holiday village in Newcastle Wood. This will be of huge economic benefit, not only to County Longford but also to the counties surrounding it, and it will bring in visitors primarily from the UK and from mainland Europe. We welcome that development.

It was under a Fianna Fáil Government that ambitious planting targets of 10,000 ha per annum were set out in the National Development Plan 2007-2013 with more than 8,000 ha planted in 2010 alone. Regrettably, in recent years, annual planting targets have been downgraded to 6000 to 7000 ha, significantly behind the Food Wise 2025 annual afforestation target of 15,000 ha per annum. The recently published mid-term review of the Government’s 2014-2020 forestry programme unfortunately confirmed this pattern, with total afforestation planting figures for the first three years of the programme, 2015 to 2017, inclusive, 7% less than the cumulative target for this period. Shockingly, the planting targets for agroforestry, native woodlands and forestry for fibre combined were missed by 74%. Meanwhile, overall planting targets were missed by 22% in 2017 alone.

Forestry has a key role to play in the reduction of Irish carbon emissions. Afforestation is a vital tool in reducing our carbon footprint, with 300,000 ha of new forests planted since 1990 absorbing a massive 18% of Irish agriculture’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Ireland’s forests removed 4.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in 2015 alone. The inclusion of land use, land-use change and forestry, LULUCF, within the scope of the new EU 2030 climate change framework is a welcome development and represents a sensible approach which broadens, through carbon removal, the tools available to Ireland in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.It will enable Ireland to access the removal of 26.8 million tonnes of CO2 over the 2021 to 2030 period.

I very much welcome the initiatives the Minister of State is bringing forward and continuing. In particular, I refer to the green ribbon campaign which is a very worthwhile campaign that I would like to see extended to more forests owned by Coillte. It has a hugely positive impact on people's mental health. I would like the Minister to encourage it, expand it where possible and encourage people to go out walking in our beautiful forests, not only once a year, but as often as possible. I look forward to continued success by the Minister of State in his role in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for this area and in the other areas for which he has responsibility. It is always very positive to see the Minister of State in the House.