asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, if, in view of the poor response to the grant aid available for private afforestation under the Programme for Western Development, he will ask his officials to promote the scheme by lectures in the 12 western counties.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Western Development Programme.
5.
Lectures are already a feature of my Department's programme to promote the forestry element of the western package. This practice will be continued.
Would the Minister agree that the lectures are not conducted on an organised basis and that they are given only in areas where requests are made to the Department? In view of the fact that in the three years since it was announced the scheme has not got off the ground, is it not time it were put on an organised basis with the co-operation of such bodies as ACOT and the county development teams?
There are problems in this regard. First we do not have the facilities around the country by way of locations where the lectures can be given. Neither do we have the necessary close relationship with the farmers. Consequently, we depend on intermediaries such as people in the ACOT area and others who request lectures, who show that degree of interest. It is a matter for the people requesting the lectures to arrange for facilities by way of accommodation in hotels or halls and to invite farmers to attend. There is close liaison between my Department and these organisations. Officials of the Department are made available to provide the lectures when they are requested but the problem is that we depend on other people to arrange the accommodation and so on.
Is it not time the Department utilised the regional development organisations, the country teams and even the VECs to promote such programmes? It is accepted that forestry is the one area of development in which there is no possibility of over-production. That means that there is tremendous potential for this area.
I agree that organisations such as those mentioned by the Deputy, and including the VECs should be involved by way of promulgating information in relation to grants and so on. I would be very pleased if that would happen. Members of this House are in a position to do a great deal to arouse interest in the project among those bodies. We are in a position to provide the manpower and to supply information on various schemes and so on.
Three years have been wasted so far as the scheme is concerned.
Since the Department have not advertised the scheme adequately, would the Minister consider having it advertised in the provincial newspapers? In my county only very big farmers have availed of the scheme. Smaller farmers know little about it.
Advertisements in regard to the scheme have been placed in recent times in the Irish Farmers Journal, for example. In that publication an advertisement was carried in close proximity to a substantive article on this subject. In the House yesterday I expressed disappointment at the level of take-up of the scheme by those people for whom it was meant in the first place, but I will consider the Deputy's suggestion of having advertisements placed in provincial papers in this regard.