Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 July 2021
620. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Minister of State with responsibility for land use and biodiversity supported the decision not to have the forestry industry represented on the CAP Consultative Committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37440/21]
View answerThe decision on the request for participation of the forestry industry in the CAP Consultative Committee was taken by me and my colleague Minister of State Pippa Hackett after careful consideration. The decision was communicated to the forestry industry on 30th June in writing.
As the Deputy is aware, the EU negotiations on the Common Agriculture Policy concluded recently. Each Member State is now finalising its proposed CAP Strategic Plan and must lodge this with the European Commission no later than 1st January 2022.
Our CAP Consultative Committee has been meeting for over two years now and the request from the forestry industry to participate was only recently received. Bilateral direct engagement with the forestry industry has been ongoing and the last meeting took place last week with further bilaterals planned. The forestry industry has been invited to submit their proposals on how tree-planting can play a larger role in our CAP schemes and we look forward to constructive discussions with them on this.
