Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 October 2020
606. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the cost benefit analyses of the forestry programme 2015 to 2020 included the tax treatment of forestry; and his plans to include this income forgone by the tax exemption status of forestry in the cost benefit analyses for the new application for permission for state aid 2021 to 2025. [30349/20]
View answerA cost benefit analysis was not undertaken specifically for the proposals as set out in the Forestry Programme in 2014. Amongst the many sources of information referred to during the development of the Programme was 'Forests, products and people, Ireland’s forest policy – a renewed vision'. This document include a cost benefit analysis of afforestation and road operations and included the funding available at the time under the Department's afforestation and forest roads schemes. This analysis did not include the cost of tax revenue forgone associated with the exemptions in place at the time for forestry.
Work on the new forestry programme is due to start in the coming months and will involve a public consultation process as well as engagement with stakeholders from across the forest sector. It is likely that a cost benefit analysis will be the economic appraisal tool used for the new programme in line with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Public Spending Code. If so, the aim will be to include as many of the social and economic costs and benefits as possible including the cost of tax exemptions.
