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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Oct 2003

Vol. 571 No. 4

Priority Questions. - Afforestation Programme.

Paul Kehoe

Question:

116 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when forestry applications made by over 600 persons will be processed, especially in view of the commitments given to a 20,000 hectare per annum planting programme under Sustaining Progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22182/03]

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to work to increase annual forest planting to 20,000 hectares. Under the terms of the new partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress, the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the development of the forestry sector in a manner that maximises its contribution to national economic and social well-being on a sustainable basis. The partnership agreement repeats the commitment to promote and support increased planting levels up to 20,000 hectares per annum. However, the agreement acknowledges that this commitment is subject to the available budgetary resources.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government continues to face a very difficult situation in the area of public finances and will have to make very difficult choices as between programmes across the range of public spending. In the latter context, the House should be aware of the high historical and future cost of forestry if existing policies are to be maintained. For example, €613 million or an average of about €88 million per annum has been spent on forestry since 1997 and, if existing policies were to continue, annual average costs, assuming respectively 10,000 and 20,000 hectares per annum, would be €100 million and €130 million per annum over the next three years. By 2020 the annual costs of meeting the Sustaining Progress targets of 20,000 hectares per annum could be over €210 million.

I wish to reassure the Deputy that this Government is strongly committed to the development of the forestry sector. This commitment is underlined by the provisions of the new partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress, to which the Deputy referred and clearly demonstrates that this Government recognises the important role which forestry plays and will continue to play in the development of rural and local economies. As part of those commitments, I have directed that a fundamental review be undertaken of the strategic policy for forestry, Growing for the Future, which was published in 1996. This review will reflect the significant changes in the sector as a whole since 1996 and will involve wide stakeholder consultation. It will also address the potentially huge future cost of forestry, especially premia, which the existing policy involves, as well as the financial consequences of interaction with other agricultural land use support policies.

With regard to the applications in question, all applications received for afforestation grant aid are being processed in line with normal procedures. However, it would be entirely inappropriate for my Department to issue approvals, thereby encouraging land use decisions by farmers and others, in the absence of certainty in relation to whether they will receive the appropriate funding in 2004. In the latter context, I assure the Deputy that the Government will make fully informed decisions on all allocations of public moneys, including those in relation to forestry, in the context of the Estimates process. It is not appropriate at this point to speculate, in advance of Government consideration, on matters relating to funding or on the corresponding levels of planting that will be possible in 2004.

The Minister of State is well aware of the importance of forestry, especially in the south-eastern area where we both live. In 1996, the then Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, Ivan Yates, published Growing for the Future, setting an afforestation target of 20,000 hectares per year. This was reiterated by the Minister of State's Government colleagues in their programme for Government, with a commitment of €687 million to fund the planting programme and necessary supporting measures. This Government has not lived up to its commitments. If approval of applications is not issued as soon as possible, it will be absolutely devastating to the whole forestry industry. As is well known, there has been a major development of forestry nurseries over a number of years, with millions of trees now ready for planting.

I am aware that the Government brought forward part of this year's budget allocation to last year. The IFA commissioned a report on the forestry sector.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy should put a question.

I need to present some relevant background to the question, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy should come to his question.

Although the Government has commissioned a number of reports by Dr. Peter Bacon, I am not sure it recognises some of the facts presented in those reports. I will refer to a few of those interesting facts. For every €1 which the State invests, it will gain €1.59.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy should ask his question to allow the Minister of State to reply within the time available.

When will approval of the outstanding forestry applications be issued? It is of the utmost importance that it is issued as soon as possible to enable farmers to begin planting. I appreciate that the Minister of State may be under tight budgetary constraints. However, having regard to environmental issues, forestry is one of the most important sectors in his Department. I acknowledge his kindness to forestry growers and I hope he will oblige them in this instance.

I assure the Deputy I am aware of the importance of forestry, especially in terms of the employment it provides in my home county and that of the Deputy. We have had unprecedented expenditure of €90 million per year on forestry over the past six years. Earlier this year, it was being suggested that very little forestry would be planted during 2003, that young trees would be disposed of by burning and that hundreds of jobs would be lost. However, that did not happen.

I hope it will not happen this year.

We will reach a figure of around 12,000 hectares planted this year. I remind Deputy Kehoe that, in the last year in office of my good friend, Ivan Yates, 11,000 hectares were planted, as compared to this year's figure of 12,000. I assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to fly the flag for forestry. We will not make decisions until we get the allocation for 2004 and I assure the Deputy that we will make strong demands on the Department of Finance, in line with other allocations, to ensure the maximum allocation for forestry in 2004.

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