I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £942,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December 1989, for salaries and expenses in connection with Forestry, Timber Processing and Amenities and for payment of certain grants and grants-in-aid.
The Supplementary Estimate is required to fund additional payments related to afforestation by the private sector, net savings on other subheads of the Forestry Vote having been taken into account. Additional expenditure of £1.519 million arises under Subhead D of the Forestry Vote, which provides for grants for afforestation purposes including promotion thereof, while additional expenditure of £136,000 arises under Subhead E, which provides for agency payments relating to private forestry.
Deputies will be aware of this Government's emphasis on forestry as a key national development activity. A fundamental aim of the National Development Plan is to “stimulate the growth needed to reduce unemployment, to raise productivity and to begin to increase per capita income towards average Community levels”. Forestry is an economic activity well suited to contribute to growth, employment and general development. its value as a national investment is that it provides the raw material for a whole industry, creates wealth and employment, diversifies the economic base of rural areas, and provides an alternative and profitable land use for farmers and landowners. The area under forest in Ireland is currently only 6 per cent, compared with an EC average of 24 per cent, and when we consider that the growth rate of Irish forests is particularly good, yielding a third more timber on average than UK forests and that the UK imports more than 90 per cent of its timber requirements and the EC about 50 per cent, the advantages of increased afforestation are abvious.
Forestry has been targeted in the national plan as a major area for development, the stated objective is to increase substantially the area under forest. Our specific aim is to achieve a national annual planting rate of 30,000 hectares by 1993, a doubling of the rate achieved last year. Planting by both the public and private sectors is set to break all records again this year, at a total of 18,400 hectares. Deputies will be aware of the operations of Coillte Teoranta, the State forestry company, in this sphere but it is afforestation by the private sector which is showing the most spectacular expansion and which is particularly the subject of this Supplementary Estimate.
Afforestation by the private sector this year is expected to reach 8,400 hectares, compared to the 6,500 hectares estimated at the beginning of the year. The projected figure itself was an increase on the record planting achieved in 1988 to 5,200 hectares. The significance of this extraordinary achievement by the private sector can be highlighted most dramatically by comparing it with the planting rate in 1981, the year in which the western package grant scheme was first introduced, of only 275 hectares.
Afforestation by the private sector is encouraged and supplemented through grant schemes administered by the Forest Service of my Department as follows: the EC assisted western package, which was launched in October 1981 and revised in 1988. This provides for the payment of grants for the afforestation, that is new planting of land in designated disadvantaged areas throughout the country. Grants are payable at the rate of 85 per cent of approved costs for farmers and 70 per cent for others, subject to a maximum of £800 per hectare. This scheme also provides grants for the construction and reconstruction of forest roads serving privately-owned forestry plantations in disadvantaged areas. The grant payable here is 80 per cent of approved costs subject to a limit of £12 per linear metre. Seventy per cent of all expenditure under the western package is reimbursed by the EC. The forestry development scheme for agricultural holdings, also EC assisted, which covers the afforestation of agricultural land by farmers. Grants are payable at the rate of 80 per cent of approved costs subject to a limit of £550 per hectare for conifers, plus an additional £300 per hectare for broadleaves. EC reimbursement for this scheme is 25 per cent. The grants for private forestry, a State scheme, which is funded solely by the Exchequer and covers the afforestation and reaf-forestation of land throughout the State. Under the last revision of this scheme which took place in November 1987, grants are payable at the rate of £500 per hectare for conifers and there is an additional £300 per hectare for growing broadleaves.
The growing interest in forestry has resulted in an increase in both grant applications and payments and, therefore, in a greater than anticipated expenditure by my Department. The bulk of planting grants in 1989 will be taken up under the western package scheme. Planting under this scheme is expected to be in the region of 7,700 hectares with the remaining 700 hectares taken up equally between the other two schemes. The take-up by farmers is expected to be about 50 per cent with the remainder taken up by individual members of the public and by investment companies. The bulk of the planting is expected to be in counties Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry and Tipperary.
My Department now operate various promotional and educational measures to increase awareness of the benefits and techniques of forestry. For example, my Department are liaising with Teagasc in the promotion of forestry among farmers, which includes participation in public meetings and field days to increase farmers' awareness of the attractiveness of forestry as an investment. The Department are also involved in courses at the agricultural colleges to introduce young farmers to the concept of forestry on the farm. In addition, forestry promotional stands are erected at various events such as the Spring Show and the National Ploughing Championship.
The development of private forestry is also greatly assisted by the services of private forestry contracting and investment companies, several of which have emerged in recent years. These companies bring afforestation within the reach of those who may not have the knowledge, skills or facilities to undertake forestry projects themselves. A full range of services is provided by these companies, from the selection and purchase of suitable sites up to the ongoing management of the established forests and the provision of financial services. Among the financial services on offer is a forestry fund, for investors who prefer to spread their investment over a mix of new planting and semi-mature woodlands, and bridging facilities for the capital-intensive forest establishment pending the receipt of grants. Facilities such as these have encouraged increased private investment in forestry.
Significant developments have also taken place in recent years in the area of silviculture. Most important has been the realisation that land quality is of prime importance in the choice of ground for planting. There is an increasing appreciation that altitude and exposure have negative influences on the growth potential and quality of trees grown for commercial purposes. There has been a gradual movement from the more exposed sites to enclosed lands which are marginal for agriculture, but which can give attractive returns for forestry. Ground preparation techniques such as mounding, mole draining and ripping have greatly enhanced tree stability and windthrow can be significantly reduced by such treatment.
There is a growing awareness of the interaction, both positive and negative, between forestry and the environment. The harmony between the two, which must be maintained, is reflected in the particular duties placed on Coillte Teoranta in the Forestry Act, 1988, to have due regard to the environmental and amenity consequences of their operations and in the grant schemes for the private sector which make compatibility with the environment an essential consideration.
The expansion of forestry has led in particular to recent concern about its effects on water quality for trout and salmon. I am happy to say that, following extensive discussions between representatives of my Department, the Department of the Marine, the Central Fisheries Board, Coillte Teoranta and the Irish Timber Growers Association, much progress has been made in developing guidelines for afforestation, particularly in sensitive areas. I hope to announce these in the new year, and to make their application mandatory for grant purposes: I expect that this will go a long way to alleviate fears on this matter. The guidelines aim to reduce the interaction between forestry and fisheries to the minimum consistent with the development of both these important resources to their optimum potential.
The Forest Service also operate a free technical advisory service for the private sector on forest establishment, management, protection and road construction. This work and the inspection of planted areas is currently undertaken by Coillte Teoranta on an agency basis. Payments to Coillte Teoranta are made from subhead E, and expenditure from this subhead in 1989 is also likely to exceed the original allocation because of the increased number of applications for technical advice and planting grants and the additional costs to Coillte Teoranta of dealing with same.
While the advisory and inspection service has been provided by my Department free of charge up to now, certain charges are to be introduced in 1990. These will apply only where inspections for grants have to be repeated because the original plantation was not up to standard, and where advice on a management plan for a forest is given before a felling licence is issued. The fees to apply are £10 per hectare for repeat visits and £20 per hour for advice related to felling licences, and it is envisaged that these will realise a total of £20,000 in 1990.
Continued expansion by the private sector will play an important part in achieving the targets set in the national plan, and I confidently expect that with the continued support of the advisory and grant schemes, planting by that sector alone can reach 15,000 hectares by 1993.
The further net allocation of £942,000 to private forestry in 1989 will bring the total expenditure in this area this year to £5.631 million. This level of expenditure will generate £2.746 million in EC funding as well as employment in forest establishment, private nurseries and private forestry contracting companies. In the longer term, the resulting increased level of afforestation will lead to an increase in domestic timber production, with the accompanying employment and economic benefits.
