The Minister for Agriculture continues to blame the European Commission’s failure to give State Aid approval to the Government’s forestry plans for what will be the lowest annual afforestation rate in decades, if not ever in this State’s history.
Coillte, as a state company, is treated differently by state agencies and departments, including the Forestry Division when it comes to observing environmental standards.
That contributes to the detrimental environmental impact of much of our forestry which was recently highlighted by the EU Commission.
Following yesterday’s Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture meeting on Coillte’s forestry deal with a British investment fund, I debated the matter with Forestry Minister Pippa Hackett (Green Party) on Virgin Media’s ‘The Tonight Show.’
Micheál Martin confirms that the Coillte scheme to facilitate the purchase of land across Ireland by British investment funds will not be affected by his proposed Government review.
Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara says the Government can do more to ease high timber prices and the consequent impact on construction costs by speeding up efforts to reduce the backlog of forestry license applications across the country.
Read MoreClare Independent TD Michael McNamara has told the Dáil that farmers are being prevented from harvesting forestry they plant and there is no incentive to replace monoculture Sitka spruce plantations with something more sustainable.
Deputy McNamara was speaking during a Motion presented to the Dáil by Deputy Jackie Cahill, Cathaoirleach of the Joint committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The Clare TD told Minister of State for Forestry, Senator Pippa Hackett, that the type of forestry being carried out in Ireland is not environmentally sustainable.
He said, “There is no sense of urgency, and farmers are seeing no urgency, with regard to their applications to plant trees or to cut the forestry they have planted, perhaps to replace it with something more environmentally sustainable.”
Deputy McNamara continued, “I hope we are about to see a change because all the talk in the world about afforestation in Glasgow – one can fly anywhere in the world and produce grandiloquent statements – is completely worthless unless it is backed up by what farmers are experiencing on the ground. We need action now as we are nearly half-way through the lifetime of this Government and we need it soon.”
“I ask the Minister of State to move outside her comfort zone. Stop talking to the converted and talk to farmers, ordinary people and landowners. They are the ones who are the future of afforestation in Ireland if there is going to be one. Above all, the Minister of State needs to back up the talk with actions, which have been singularly missing up to now,” he stated.
County Clare does not feature amongst the 16 counties, including Galway, Kerry and Limerick, which are set to receive funding under the €1.2 million scheme.
Deputy McNamara says Minister Heather Humphreys, who announced the funding on Friday, should publish the awarding criteria given that County Clare is the 7th most afforested county in Ireland.
“Given that Clare is one of the most afforested counties in Ireland, both in terms of the size of area under forestry and the proportion of the County that is afforested, it is deeply disappointing that it is not receiving funding under this scheme,” explained Deputy McNamara.
“Community groups and voluntary organisations, along with Clare County Council and others, have developed and maintained many woodland walks and trails throughout the county in recent years. I would have thought that sites such as Cratloe Woods, Moylussa, Ard Aoibhinn, Knocknageeha in Killanena, Dromore, Ballybeg, Lees Road and Mount Callan, amongst others, between them offered scope for development.”
“The exclusion of any County Clare site from this funding announcement, therefore, requires explanation,” concluded Deputy McNamara.
40% of the target of 4,500 forestry licences to issue in 2021 has been reached up to 9th July, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Read MoreThe meaning of the word “logjam” is now clear to builders and those building their own home. Forestry owners can’t get a felling licence so timber mills can’t get logs so builders can’t get timber so homes can’t be built. I asked Government to tackle this.
I raised Coillte’s treatment of the environment with the new Minister responsible for Forestry and I invited her to Sliabh Aughty to see for herself.
I urged the new Minister for Agriculture to reform the beef and forestry sectors so that farmers in those sectors and can plan for the future with more certainty.