Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 15, line 30, after “grants,” to insert “subject to Oireachtas approval and”.

The amendment asks that the Minister bring any scheme arising from this legislation before the Dáil for approval. The reason we are doing that is that forestry policy, as has been discussed here at length for the past two years, has failed utterly. There has been a systemic failure to deliver on targets that have been set and to ensure the forestry policy does exactly what it should do, which is to deliver for the environment, communities and the economy. The argument is the amendment will call on the Minister to bring any scheme that arises from the legislation to the Dáil for approval so that it has that democratic oversight which has been lacking in the forestry industry to date.