Monica Barnes
Ceist:11 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Energy whether he has studied the recent An Taisce Report on Forestry; and if he plans any changes in Government policy in response to the recommendations in this report.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Report on Forestry.
Donal Carey
Ceist:27 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Energy if he has examined the contributions made at a recent Coillte Teoranta/An Taisce conference which examined the environmental impact on forestry development; and if he will outline his proposals to implement the recommendations of the conference.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 27 together.
Both the conference on forestry and the environment and the An Taisce report, which I welcomed, recognised that many of the issues raised in relation to forestry and the environment in this country are being addressed.
The Operational Programme for Forestry, 1989-1993, contains strict measures for the protection of the environment and I am committed to further strengthening these measures should this be found necessary.
I join the Minister in congratulating Bord Coillte and An Taisce on holding the conference. However, I am a bit anxious about the Minister's plans for contacting local authorities about the environmental controls which they operate for the forestry sector. Does the Minister intend to contact each local authority regarding their development plans to ensure that they will implement what he has outlined in his operational programme?
When an application for grant approval is made to the Department for forestry grants, one of the procedures is that the local authority and their planning section are asked to give an opinion on the proposed planting and whether there are any special provisions in the county development plan in relation to that particular area. They are also asked if there are any other aspects, from a planning point of view, which should be borne in mind by the Department before approving a grant. Of course, in certain cases, planning permission must be obtained if the area to be planted is in excess of 200 hectares and an environmental impact assessment must also be carried out in those cases. I am quite satisfied that the Department exercise extreme caution in regard to the forestry development programme vis-á-vis our environmental concerns and would have drawn up guidelines in regard to all the main areas of concern such as fishery waters, archaeological sites and so on. It is kept constantly in mind and, in certain instances in relation to areas of scientific interest, we would not be empowered to approve the payment of a grant if the area had been specially designated by the Office of Public Works as an area of national or international interest from this point of view.
How will the Minister respond to the suggestion by An Taisce that there is not sufficient distinction in a scheme between planting on cutaway and grass rush sites compared to undisturbed peatlands and the upper reaches of rivers? Is his sole reliance on the planning mechanism sufficient to ensure this protection?
We will be publishing guidelines, as I said, and we have consulted all the relevant authorities in their preparation. I would be happy to let the Deputy — and Deputy Carey — have a copy of the guidelines when they are ready for publication in a short while. He will then see that they are quite extensive.
We will now deal with Question No. 12.
For future reference, is it open to a Deputy to refuse to have his question grouped with a number of questions which the Minister proposes to take together?
No, that is the prerogative of the Minister.