Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The amendment provides the opportunity to speak on a couple of issues that will exercise the appeals committee. I have spoken to people on this. We accept that it is contentious and there were many submissions received by the Department on foot of the public consultation. Some of the more contentious issues have been resolved, but forestry is something that will dominate the discourse in many local communities for a time to come. Some of the reservations that local people might have that could be an issue for the appeals committee are ones that I dealt with when I served on a local authority. They include issues of access to and from an area where a forest is being harvested and the structure of roads. Local people feel very aggrieved when trucks and lorries use access points, do not make proper repairs and leave the place in a terrible state when they eventually leave. Locals are not informed when it will happen or for how long. It would be right and proper for local authorities to have a greater role in this, where companies should inform the local authority when they intend deforesting and harvesting, the roads they intend to use, and that they would be obliged to make proper provision to repair the inevitable damage afterwards.

People have noted to me that when people use land for forestry, it is difficult to revert its use to agricultural. That is a big commitment for a farmer and it is something that worries a lot of people and puts them off making such a commitment. There might not be as many appeals if issues around local roads and amenities and the impact on local communities were dealt with.