Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the contributors, including Senators Paul Daly, Lombard, Boylan, Wall, Clonan and Murphy, for their very constructive contributions. They touched on many points, some of which I did not even touch on. It has been a very positive debate. There have not been that many Senators in the Chamber but that does not take from the very high quality of this debate and engagement. I thank the Senators who took the time to be here and engage. I also note the importance of Senators Daly, Lombard, Boylan and myself being here. We are on the agricultural panel and the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine so we have discussed this at great length. I take this opportunity to again thank the Minister of State, the Minister and their officials for the huge engagement with us. It is a constructive committee that is represented by all political groups in the House and it has done great work. It has had some genuine concerns and we have had robust debate but I think everybody is on board with realising our targets.

It was echoed in all the contributions here tonight that farmers' engagement is central to all of this. The solution is around farmers, landowners and the potential for that. That has to be central. That is the message we have to get out. I am very conscious every time I stand up here that it is important we hone in on our messaging and communicate our messaging. We should not only say it in here but leave here and continue to communicate. That is the art and the essence of politics, that we communicate messages. That brings me to the next point. A lot of people suggested that the Minister of State look at the idea, and she spoke favourably of it, of a public engagement and consultation. That is important and people need to know that.

Going back to one of our proposals around this investment scheme and options, it is for everyone. Senator Lombard is right. The Minister of State quoted him there. It is about people feeling they can get involved at various levels. It is not rural versus urban. There are benefits to forestry from sequestration and all of that. It is about our future. It is about being ambitious. It is about making farmers and others central to this plan and this vision. It is about keeping the focus that we set. The Government has committed to planting 22 million trees a year between 2020 and 2040. We are now in 2023. As I said earlier, that is 85,000 trees every single working day. That is an enormous challenge. It is important that we keep our ambition high and keep the focus on the challenges.

I join with Senators who spoke about the importance of carbon credits, particularly for farmers and hedgerows. It is a really important point Senator Daly made and is one I support. Another message I want to get out is that we have to seriously support farmers in terms of an audit and some sort of credits for their hedgerows on their farms. There are a load of biodiversity and environmental benefits from those hedgerows so it will tick off a number of issues. As has been said, it is important. It is about opportunities. It is about investment. It is about support and about people wanting to be together to make and realise our targets. We have talked a lot in the last few weeks about the Gresham House investment. It is clear that this has stirred up something in the Irish people. They want to be involved. They want to be part of this natural resource.

I will again leave the Minister of State with another call, although it is a bit beyond the parameters of what we are here to talk about. We do not have a national forestry authority. Coillte is not a national forestry authority. It plays a very significant role and I am fully supportive of it but this is a natural resource. Timber and forestry is a natural resource and yet we do not have a national forestry authority. That is something to look at because we need to have a level playing field for the public sector and the private sector. Rightly or wrongly, it is perceived that Coillte has better advantages. Maybe it prepares better places in terms of its licensing and all that; I simply do not know. We have to have a level playing pitch for the private and the public sector. That is important. I will leave the Minister of State with that call to look seriously at a national authority for forestry. I again thank all the people who spoke in favour and indicated their support for this motion.