Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of issues to raise. The first is an anomaly in the Forestry Act 2014. We have seen the issues with trying to get licences in forestry and the backlog of felling licences yet to be issued. The anomaly in the Act means if there is an area of forestry in an urban area, which you would think would be protected to maintain green areas within our urban areas, a licence is not needed at all. That issue has arisen in an area in Athlone, where an application for planning was refused by the council based on the fact there was forestry there, yet in recent weeks the owners came in with bulldozers and clear-felled the entire 2-acre site because it is within the old urban line of the town, which was the old Athlone urban district. A felling licence is not needed in such cases and a person can go in and bulldoze the whole thing and nothing can be done about it. That needs to be changed.

During Covid, a number of us here, including Senator Byrne, who has just left, fought for funding for the musical societies to ensure we had pantos in the wintertime. I was at the St Mel's Musical Society production of "Footloose" last week. The society had a packed-out audience for the eight shows. I am conscious of the significant amount of work the society and others like it must put into fundraising just to be able to put on that show, never mind the hundreds of hours of voluntary time that go into it to give us entertainment.I would love to see a scheme implemented, similar to the funding that is given to the Irish Shows Association for agricultural shows, whereby musical societies would register with the Association of Irish Musical Societies, AIMS, and funding would be allocated to them on a yearly basis, through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, to put on the shows that give us so much entertainment.