asked the Minister for Lands if he is satisfied that the planting of only 14,600 acres this year is the wisest course considering that only approximately 25,000,000 of the 40,000,000 of transplants in the nurseries will be used this year in the proposed area to be planted, and if he will now take steps to increase the acreage so that a lesser number of the plants will reach an unsuitable age before planting out.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Plantation Acreage.
It is only with the greatest difficulty that my Department has succeeded in providing sufficient plants to undertake this year the planting of the area quoted by the Deputy. The planting of so large an area is imposing a severe strain upon the Department's resources and is delaying the accumulation of a proper reserve of plantable land. It is doubtful whether so large a programme would have been undertaken this year had not advance preparations been made early in the year on the unwarranted assumption that a much larger programme would have been possible.
The figure of approximately 40,000,000 transplants given to the Deputy in reply to a question on the 1st instant included all transplants in the State forest nurseries, but about one-third of these are not suitable for planting out this season and will have to be held over for another year.
I want to draw the Minister's attention to an inaccuracy in the figures I got in a letter from his Department. These figures were for two, three and four year-old plants. The gross total amounted to slightly less than 40,000,000 seedlings, and yearlings running into 122,000,000. The purpose of my question was to prevent too large a number of the already plantable transplants from running beyond the advantageous time at which to plant them out. The Minister's Department should get sufficient transplants for planting out.
Approximately 27,000,000 transplants will be required for the current planting programme. If the advice I have received is correct, that 40,000,000 transplants are the number mentioned in reply to the Deputy and that one-third of them are not suitable for planting out, it is feared that the whole of the available plants and, possibly, more, will be required for the current planting programme.
Can the Minister tell me if it is proposed to use up all the four-year-olds and the three-year-olds in the nurseries for this year's planting?
I am afraid I would have to get further information on that question.
Would the Minister not consider it advisable, in view of the nature of the reply he gave, to have arrangements made now to increase the staff of the Forestry Division, so that the afforestation programme will not be held up or delayed?
The Deputy does not seem to appreciate that it is not a question of staff but of land acquisition. When the Deputy and those associated with him told the country that it was possible to plant 25,000 acres of land per year, they had no foundation whatever for their statement, from any technical authority that I am aware of. It was an entirely unwarranted and unfounded statement. The position was, that early this year the outgoing Government decided to aim at planting 20,000 acres, having only 30,000 acres in reserve. It is well known that if we were really interested in the progress of forestry, we should have three years' reserve, that is, three times as much land as we propose to plant in a particular year. With the 30,000 acres that were in hand at the end of last year, we had only sufficient for a 10,000-acre programme. In order to work up to the 20,000 programme, we would require at least 60,000 acres, and even then we would have difficulty in arranging our nursery programme. We certainly could not arrange matters properly unless we had a substantial three years' reserve.
Why these difficulties? Are they artificial?
Is not the question of land acquisition one that depends upon the staff available?
It is not.
It is.
Further, do I take it that the Minister has not read the report of the forestry expert who approved of the 25,000 a year programme?
Question No. 46.
I think I should answer that question. I have read the forestry expert's report which will be in the hands of Deputies——
You did not understand it.
I presume we shall have further opportunities of dealing with it. I want to say that the acquisition of land does not depend on the amount of staff available. It depends on getting land that is suitable for planting. The land that is being offered to us is entirely inferior to the land which is being offered in Great Britain and Scotland because in this country land which is available for hill grazing or sheep farming is not readily available and a large part of the land we are being given will not be plantable even with modern technical methods.
Would the Minister state who is responsible for land acquisition if the staff is not?