asked the Minister for Lands if he will state the terms and conditions under which landowners are encouraged to plant privately owned plantations; the amount of grant per acre, when and how such grant is payable and if he would consider improving the inducement to private owners to plant more of their waste land.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Privately Owned Plantations.
A grant of £10 per acre is paid to landowners who are prepared to plant not less than one acre at a spacing of not more than five feet and to fence or otherwise protect the plantation against damage by stock or rabbits. The grant is payable in two equal instalments, the first immediately upon satisfactory completion of the planting, and the second five years afterwards if the plantation has been properly maintained in the interval.
I am of opinion that the present grant offers a fair inducement to landowners to plant their waste lands. Such timber as they cultivate for themselves with the assistance of the Department's grant is their own property and may become highly valuable if properly tended.
Is the Minister aware that this £10 grant has been in operation now for 17 years and, as the Minister for Finance stated that the £ has been reduced in value to 10/-, should the grant not be doubled in order to do as well as Fianna Fáil did?
Why did you not double it?