Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and her officials to the House. As she said, the programme for Government includes a commitment to end fur farming. The tripartite Government agreed to a prohibition and I welcome it. Indeed, it should have been outlawed a long time ago. I want to acknowledge the focus of the Green Party on this, among other items that I do not have time to discuss today. Clearly, the experience of being in government previously has taught the Green Party some lessons, one of which is to get out of the traps early and get one's message across. While I might have concerns about other measures and policies of the party, in this particular case, it is the right decision.

It is important to stress that fur farming is a lawful activity. It is a job for some. We are talking about three farms and three individuals operating businesses.As of today, they are within the law. I call on the Minister of State to insist on a fair compensation package for them. If the Government decided tomorrow to stop turkey farming on animal welfare or other grounds, it would be a crazy idea which I would not support. I have real concerns about the business these people are running, which the Government has collectively decided to close down. The argument and battle are over and we have moved on. We have control over a decent and fair compensation package for the people who have invested heavily in this trade. I ask the Minister of State to clarify that it is the case that these people are prohibited from selling these mink and their mink stock cannot be sold. They are valuable and they cannot go outside the State. There are reasons for that and I understand them too. I ask the Minister of State to confirm that in her reply.

Councillor Norma Moriarty from Waterville in Kerry engaged with me yesterday, as did other people, but she particularly impressed upon me the importance of the engagement on fur farm activities in her local community. She made the point that the Department had mentioned an assessment of the business model or income for the past five years. The past two and a half years have been really bad for most people. I suggest that the Department assess the best three years of the past seven years. We are talking about three businesses. We need to be fair and give them an honest assessment.

There are three active farms in the State. Councillor Moriarty made the point well that they are employing people, contributing to the local economy and are viable businesses. Most important, they are legal businesses which the Government has decided to shut down. I support that decision but I also support the very important need for compensation. I know Senator Paul Daly is very active in this regard as well. We met many of these groups when they appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food, where we made the point that we wanted adequate compensation for the employees as well. It is not all about the employers. The employees who work in this area must also get a fair package. To suggest that they should be given a few weeks' standard redundancy is not good enough. I would like to think that some of the compensation these businesspeople will get will be used by them to develop new enterprises, perhaps in other areas of animal husbandry or other activities. Let us hope that it will be seed capital for new business in rural communities, one of which the Minister of State represents. She knows the heartbeat of the rural economy and rural communities. That is very important.

It is important that mink farmers are compensated. How that is to be calculated is a little scientific. The specific detail with regard to the methodology around the calculation of the compensation payable is important. What we do here is very important. The legislation gives the Minister powers. It also makes it an offence to engage in fur farming and it provides for appropriate penalties, which is a follow-on from what the Minister of State is proposing.

I want to speak about trees. As stated by the Minister of State, trees play a very important part climate change mitigation and diversity. I fully respect that. I refer to the great Green Party analogy and byline that it is about the right trees in the right places. I have some concern with regard to the proposal to have 25% Scots pine. I do not understand the logic behind that but I am to be convinced. I welcome that the emphasis has to be on native trees, in particular native deciduous trees. They are small enough plantations but if this scheme were to be rolled out, the cumulative effect would be significant. It should be encouraged and welcomed but, as I said, I have some concerns about what is proposed.

I ask the Minister of State to clarify in her reply that these measures are not a substitute for the ongoing work to reform the licensing process or for large afforestation sites which remain the priority for the Department. I want to discuss the opening up of the forestry licence business. We have serious concerns about forestry licences and the infrastructure associated with that. We have to get timber out of forests. The economy, rural communities and the construction industry need it. It is becoming a great difficulty and frustration for many. I know the Department is focused on it and that things move slowly. That is perhaps a matter for another day so I do not expect the Minister of State to dwell on it.

I have been asked by the Irish Environmental Network to raise concerns about the strategic environmental assessment, the SE directives and so on and the importance that decisions in this area are made in compliance with environmental law and appropriate assessment. The Minister of State is aware of all of the issues around that. This is about compliance with environmental law such as the environmental impact assessment, EIA, the habitats directive and the water framework directive, all of which the Minister of State is familiar with. They are really important. It is about how we consult people and ensure we are on the right side of all of that. We have obligations on consultation under the Aarhus Convention. The scheme and the criteria around it have to be legally compliant. I know the Minister of State is conscious of that but it is important to flag these issues with her because clearly they are issues of consent, which will exercise some people outside of this House. I flag them because I may introduce some amendments in regard to these areas on Committee Stage.

I want to flag the issues of strategic environmental assessment and appropriate assessment, the legal requirements of the EIA and the water framework directive. It is important that the scheme addresses those issues. Hopefully, we can have meaningful engagement on it. In principle, they are both really good ideas. I welcome the end of mink farming. I beg the Minister of State to ensure there is a fair deal for the three businesses that are being shut down. Hopefully, the compensation they get will be used to compensate their workers but also as seed capital to bring new businesses into their communities.