Vol. 560 No. 1
123 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if the neighbourhood woodland scheme and the native woodland scheme will be affected by the reduced budget for afforestation announced in the Book of Estimates for 2003; and his views on whether cutbacks in these schemes will lead to a loss of European grant aid which can be drawn down in conjunction with State assistance. [27061/02]
As the Deputy is aware, the Government recently made very difficult choices in the area of the public finances. In making these decisions, the Government was not in a position to make as much money available for all programmes as we would all wish to see across the whole range of public expenditure.
The average spend per annum on forestry for the period 1997-2002 was €90 million, with an increased spend of €107 million in 2002. The 2003 Estimates provide for expenditure of €82 million.
While the funding available for forestry for the year 2003 will be less than what would have been expected, this does not take from the strong commitment on the part of the Government, as articulated in repeated programmes for Government, to afforestation policy in Ireland. The Government remains fully convinced of the long-term value of the forestry programme in terms of regional development, strong and sustainable local employment, import substitution and the environment. Over the past weeks my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, Deputy John Browne, has undertaken extensive consultation with representatives of the various groups right across the forest sector. Following this it has been decided to focus resources primarily on maintenance of a viable planting programme in 2003. This will initially mean some curtailment of a number of the schemes, including the native woodland and neighbour wood schemes. I expect to finalise arrangements in respect of such schemes as soon as possible.
