Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. Forestry should be a key part of Ireland's response to climate change, supporting rural communities and protecting biodiversity. However, the reality for many forest owners is one of delay, financial loss and frustration. One major ongoing issue is ash dieback. Although the Department has the reconstitution scheme for plantation owners, there is no financial support for farmers and landowners with ash dieback on their hedgerows. Dead and dying trees along public roads are serious health and safety hazards, as we saw during Storm Éowyn when the roads were blocked for days and power lines were brought down, leaving homes without electricity for weeks. Sinn Féin is calling for a specific grant scheme to assist farm owners and landowners in safely removing trees before further storms cause even more damage and disruption.

This is only one part of the wider crisis. Storms Éowyn and Darragh caused devastating damage across the forestry sector with an estimated 26,000 ha affected, most of which now needs to be urgently felled. The Minister's task force is apparently drafting an action plan but forest owners need immediate practical support and not more reports. We cannot allow valuable timber to lie and rot on the ground while the forest owners have to shoulder the loss.

Another problem arising from the storms is the destruction of private property adjoining forestry, such as boundary fences, sheds and gardens. There needs to be a clear and fair scheme in place to provide support for these landowners who have suffered damage through no fault of their own. A major factor in the length of time it took to restore power after these storms was the difficulty in accessing the lines through the forestry. The corridors and setbacks around critical infrastructure such as electricity, communications and the water networks are too narrow and poorly maintained. Sinn Féin will call for the Department of agriculture and the ESB to work together to widen and maintain these corridors properly to protect essential services from storm damage. I will also highlight the huge challenges farmers face when trying to manage their forests. Over the summer recess I met a group of forest owners in west Limerick. One of the landowners explained how he noticed ash dieback affecting his forest in 2020. He applied for his felling licence. He had a buyer lined up to buy the ash trees to make hurleys and any timber left over would go into furniture. By the time he received his felling licence in 2023 the dieback had affected every single tree in his forest so he was out of pocket by €50,000, on average. There is no grant that will cover that loss. Now, if he is to fell the entire forest when heeventually gets a contractor - the majority of contractors are taken up with forestry at the moment - he will have to get an ecological report. I assume that report would have been done when he originally received the grant to plant the trees so he will now have to pay another €2,000 to get the same report done to take away the trees. A few things just do not make sense in this. Years of investment will be lost with no proper support to replant or recover from this. This is not a unique experience; it is widespread across the country. The licensing system is too slow and bureaucratic. It is driving people away from forestry exactly when we need them.

Looking ahead, I want to raise an important issue about the GAEC 2 standard under the new CAP. Some 30% of Ireland's peatlands are under forestry, mainly monoculture Sitka spruce plantations. Research shows planting on drained peatlands actually releases more carbon than it stores. The process of draining, planting, harvesting and replanting peatlands is contributing to carbon emissions, not reducing them. Afforestation on peatlands must stop. We must develop a plan to restore existing forestry peatlands back to natural boglands to serve as a true carbon sink.

I will turn to the carbon credits, which I heard my colleagues speak about, and the ownership of carbon credits stored in Ireland's forests. For more than 30 years, Irish farmers have invested their time, land and money in planting forests, often encouraged by State policy. Who owns the carbon credits linked to those forests? Will farmers and forest owners have rights to the carbon credits of their forests or will these be captured by others? Looking forward to the EU emissions trading system in 2030, will forest owners receive carbon credits for existing forests they planted over the past decades or will the benefits only apply to new plantations?

One of the serious risks is posed by bark beetles. The eight-toothed spruce bark beetle poses a devastating risk to the forestry sector. If the Government fails to ban the importation of affected timber and forests are wiped out, will owners be fully compensated? What risk assessment has been carried out? What is the estimated cost to the sector if infestation takes hold? Crucially, why was it the Scottish Government that halted timber exports to Ireland when the larch beetle spread, and not our own Government and Department of agriculture being proactive? Given past failures, what specific steps is the Department now taking to prevent the importation of any other dangerous beetle into Ireland? Forestry owners have invested in good faith. They deserve action, fairness and real support from the Government, not empty words.