Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber because she is part of it. My colleague Senator Paul Daly has led on this today. He said we will not be opposing this motion. I compliment Senator Boyhan on bringing forward what is really a crucial issue and a crucial debate. Discussions like this are very important. Forestry is going to be important as we go forward. Environmentally, if we want to keep some of our farming methods going we have to in some way account for our carbon count. We cannot have the best of every world but we can have the best of a lot of them if we go with this policy. Most people would agree that the deal might not have been the best in the world but it is up to us all to work together with the farming community. I believe the farming community will get really involved in this if we have good meetings and good explanatory policies. We now have a situation where people can be paid €1,100 per hectare for up to 20 years for native broadleaf trees. Two or three hectares could be put in by lots of farmers. From talking to quite a number of them, it is clear they think this is significant. We can do huge things with woodlands as well, which can be very enjoyable for people. We should not forget that aspect of it.

I am willing to accept the words of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Minister of State. As has already been said, we have announced a huge package of €1.3 billion for forestry development. Both the Minister and the Minister of State have been saying that farmers will be central to the success of our overall forestry strategy. The Government has been clear in its policy direction, the design of the forestry programme and the climate action plan that farmers will have the biggest opportunity to deliver on our forestry targets and benefit from our forestry payments but we have to deliver on that. Sometimes when you talk to farmers individually on the ground they can talk a lot more than they might at a public meeting. They want to invest in this and want to be part of it. They understand that there must be environmental changes but we need to bring them along the road with us. I was watching part of this debate when I was doing something else in my office. I think it was Senator Daly who spoke about our carbon count and all the carbon count that is in our hedges and trees at the moment. It is very important that this is taken into the overall calculations.

I do not mean to continue this debate any longer. It is good that we have had the debate. Going forward, we have to work out a programme, crucially, with the farmers and the farming community. I have no doubt they will engage positively. Going back many years, farmers really got into the first environmental schemes we had and were very enthused by them. They made great improvements to their lands, their hedges and everything else at the time. If farmers are treated fairly, if we talk to them plainly and fairly and offer them the proper incentives, I have absolutely no doubt they will engage. I am positive for the future. Whatever difficulties we have, I think we can definitely work them out.