Whatever could usefully be said from this side of the House on this Estimate was suitably expressed by Deputies Dillon and Blowick yesterday evening. Because of the very detailed statement made by the Minister, covering some 15 pages of single type, in relation to the administration of the Forestry Division, the work that is being done and the future prospects for forestry, I do not think very much opposition or criticism could usefully be advanced. Up to 1948, planting was very slow, although it was one thing that a native Government should have attended to, because this country was denuded of its trees to such an extent that the percentage of forestry was only something like half of 1 per cent., whereas in other European countries, including England and Scotland, the percentage was between 12 per cent. and 18 per cent., and in Norway, 23 per cent. I remember reading about 35 years ago a very useful book called The Rape of Ireland. I cannot remember the author's name and I would not be surprised if the book were now out of print, but it dealt entirely with the destruction of our forests. It also dealt with the work that would lie ahead for an Irish Government in order to increase the percentage of our forest land to something like what it was in other countries.
There was, of course, further depletion during the first world war. While the people of this country were always in opposition to landlordism, there was one thing that landlords did. I do not know whether it was for the welfare of the country or to beautify the landscape for their own benefit, but they did plant forests in their time. All of these forests were cut down, but in many cases they have been renewed.
The principal difficulty here in connection with forestry appears to be the acquisition of land, particularly since there has been a vast increase in planting. In 1947, planting was 7,000 acres and for this financial year, the target is 22,500 acres. However, the forestry experts say that you would really want about three times the amount of land in reserve as the number of acres planted, in each year. We have scarcely twice the amount of planting land in reserve. Nevertheless, no good arable land or potential arable land should be planted while we have sufficient land of a type suitable for forestry, as we have particularly along the western and south-western seaboards. In the Midlands and elsewhere, too, there are thousands of acres of land that could be planted that would be useful for nothing else. But I hope that forestry will never get into competition with sheep farming and those who engage a great deal in the grazing of cattle. There are areas in my own constituency where mountain farmers have anything from 300 to 600 acres of land on which there is scarcely a tree grown. They would be well advised to offer 100 or 200 acres of that land to the Forestry Department as well as to carry out some private planting.
Public representatives, Deputies, Senators and members of local bodies could help the Forestry Department to a great extent when speaking in public by suggesting to farmers of that type that they should offer land to the Department, which would benefit their farms, and also to undertake private planting. The Minister has referred in his Estimate to dowries for sons, daughters, grandsons, and so on. Whether it would be a dowry or not, it would be useful to those who would inherit the property to have trees planted in order to shelter the land. Furthermore, planting on mountainsides saves land erosion.
We have in the Forestry Department men who have the technical knowledge and experience required to know the type of trees to plant in the various types of land. They have also gained experience from the very good practice of visiting forest lands in other countries and consulting the experts there, and I am sure experts in those countries have derived benefit from their visits to this country and consulting our forestry experts.
In my constituency, I have often been asked by mountain farmers if arrangements could be made by which they could get an exchange of holding, if they offered their lands to the Forestry Department. We know about the exchange of holdings under the Land Commission, but evidently no provision has been made by which such land could be acquired for forestry purposes. Perhaps it would require some legislation. We may not refer to legislation on the Estimate, but it is possible that the Minister has power to do that.
If a mountain farmer has 300 or 400 acres of land, the Land Commission will not take it over because his neighbours have more land than they want. If he sells that land to the Forestry Department, the money he receives is not much good to him. He may be a married man with a family. However, if he got an exchange holding down the country, it would be a great incentive to him to offer his land to the Department.
The Minister has doubled the grant for private planting from £10 to £20 but, as we heard in reply to a question to the Taoiseach the other day, the £ is worth only 4/3½ at present compared to what it was worth in 1914. Therefore, the grant of £20—£10 when the planting is done and the remaining £10 after five years—is no great inducement to farmers to carry out private planting. Of course, my personal view is that any wise farmer who could well afford to plant a portion of his land suitable for forestry would do it, if he never got a grant. It would be a benefit to himself and to those coming after him. In other words, it would be a very good investment. It would be a better investment, perhaps, to spend some money in that way than to put it in the bank and get only 1 per cent. for it.
During the past ten years, thousands of acres have been offered for forestry in South Kerry. I think we have three forestry centres. There have been so many offers in the Cahirciveen area that perhaps it is time the Minister and his Department considered setting up a centre in that area in the far south of Kerry.
There was a reference in the Minister's opening statement to the setting up of a pulp factory. It would seem as if we have enough thinnings already to supply such a factory. Instead of setting up a central factory which would, I suppose, be somewhere in the neighbourhood of Dublin, these factories should be decentralised and set up in a small way in areas which would have, or be likely to have, sufficient plants, thinnings and so on, to supply them.
At one time, steps were taken in Kenmare by an Irish-American in regard to a pulp factory there. He called a meeting. One of his ideas was that, when there would be sufficient plantations and when the material would be available in South Kerry or in the whole of Kerry and West Cork, Kenmare would be an ideal place for a pulp factory. It would be very desirable also in view of the fact that, in the past few years, people there invested money in a tannery which appears to have failed.
We have some factories in Killarney; a factory is now starting in Killorglin and there is a generating station in Cahirciveen. It would be a great benefit to the area in general if, when the time comes, these claims were favourably considered. There is no necessity for me to go further.
It is very satisfactory that the Minister is continuing the good work of his predecessor, that the planting of trees is being increased from year to year and that the annual target is 25,000 acres. Until more land is available, I presume we can scarcely exceed that amount. If we have already planted only 246,000 acres, and our target is 1,000,000 acres, our planting will not be completed in less than 30 years' time—in fact, longer, because I understand it is necessary to replace forests cut down to the extent of 7,000 acres annually.
I listened to remarks on the good work of Bord na Móna, Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann and the E.S.B. It would be well if the Government considered setting up a forestry board: I suppose it would be called An Bord Foraoiseacha.
