Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this particular issue. It is her portfolio and area of responsibility. I also warmly welcome Deputy Cahill and thank him for his enormous work and leadership in the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I acknowledge that Senators Paul Daly, Lombard and O'Donovan are also members of that committee and have done an enormous amount of work.

The word "ambition" is important. We have to be realistic. Our report was completed a year ago and we made 12 solid recommendations. Forestry is regularly discussed on the committee and the Chair will vouch for that. It is constantly exercising the minds of members of the committee who want to see ambition with regard to the delivery of new entrants and retaining people in the industry. That is important.

I also thank the Cathaoirleach for his initiative to discuss some committee work in the Seanad. It has been a year and things move very slowly in politics, life and, in particular, forestry. I think back to the first time the Minister of State attended the Seanad in her new role. I was pretty harsh then in terms of the demands I made of her. She has a difficult brief but she has worked exceptionally hard for it. She has had to navigate officials in her Department and take on a system that had been embedded for a long time. Now, one year on, we are all in a better place and have a greater understanding of the task and challenges that lie ahead. It is very important that we take that on board.

We must be mindful of all stakeholders. Environmental and other groups have legitimate concerns and we must acknowledge that. However, we must get over those concerns and find a way to have a progressive and ambitious forestry sector. It ticks many boxes in terms of the environmental and green agenda, and we have to harness that as well.

I looked at the report again today and there were 12 key issues. I will stick to the key issues, rather than the debate. The motion before us is on the report. It is not on what we think about forestry but the report from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I will address the key issues rather than reading out the 12 recommendations as that would take too long. These include overseeing implementation of each of the Mackinnon report recommendations and developing a customer service charter to assist the building of confidence in the system. We have heard about building confidence in the system. The Chairman spoke of the importance of a customer service model, which is very important.

Additional resources should be allocated to deal with the enormous backlog. We still have a backlog; let us be honest about it. People are frustrated with the system and it has to improve. While we are addressing the issue, the backlog in licensing is simply unacceptable and will not be sustainable going forward.

The joint committee looked at the issue of accessing the licensing system without delay. That is still a key priority for us one year on. Perhaps the most controversial recommendation, one on which we need focus much more, is that, in addition to an accessible licensing system, a single consent is introduced covering planting, road construction, management, felling and harvesting. It would be a one-stop shop, in effect, which would bring everything together.That is where the kernel of the problem is.

We also talked about supporting research and assistance in terms of species and innovation along with grants to cover the financial loss of clearing affected plantations. The Chairman of the committee has talked about the ash dieback challenges. The report also recommends compiling a detailed report on the origins of ash dieback. We need to do more work on that and we need a financial package to support affected foresters and farmers to clear their land. We need to recognise the skill of stakeholders to work together effectively. People want to work here effectively. We want to get on with the job.

I am not expecting the Minister of State to give a full response to all of this today; it is really a sharing of our concerns one year on from our report. There is a suggestion that we develop a strategy for the reconstitution of the elm, a very important species and one we should be encouraging. We also need to enhance the environmental benefits and increase the proportion of broadleaf in our native woodland afforestation. I know the Minister of State is very supportive of that. It was one of the key recommendations in our report. We also highlighted the recreational advantages of forestry. "Closer to nature" is the phase the Minister of State uses so much herself here. It is about how we can showcase and promote the real opportunities for recreation in our State forestry and private forestry. I would like to see a greater synergy there. There are issues we need to look at again in terms of how we treat private investment companies in forestry and how we treat Coillte. I have some concerns. It was not something we identified in the committee report but I want to flag it to the Minister of State today. How can we encourage new and existing farmers to enter, re-enter and remain in the forestry programme? It is a significant challenge. We must meet our national target of 8,000 ha of afforestation annually. It is a massive task and we are nowhere near it yet. It is set out in our climate action plan obligations. I know the Minister of State is committed to doing it but there are enormous challenges.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and the Cathaoirleach for providing us with the opportunity to review our 12 recommendations. It is one year on. This motion was tabled in March 2021. We are now discussing it in the House and still a lot of what we recommended has not been implemented. For today's engagement in Seanad Éireann to be meaningful, we need to keep in constant contact with the Minister of State. We will do that through the committee and I know the Minister of State is always available to it. We must keep on top of our commitments in respect of this really important piece of work.

I thank the Minister's officials who have made themselves available. There have been many heated debates, as the officials will certainly have told the Minister, when the members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine have cross-examined and made demands of the officials. It is always with the best objective of having a good, ambitious, progressive and sustainable forestry sector. There are enormous opportunities for the environmental sector. There are win-win situations for everyone. It is vital to get the synergy right, harness the ambition, increase our targets and deliver on the targets set by the Government and the committee.