Vol. 571 No. 4
345 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on whether cuts in the forestry programme are a false economy in view of the 1000 jobs in the sector threatened and the loss of approximately 20 million plants with a market value of around ?4 million. [22149/03]
The programme for Government contains a commitment to work to increase forest planting levels to 20,000 hectares annually. Under the terms of the new partnership agreement Sustaining Progress the Government re-affirms its commitment to the development of the forestry sector in a manner that maximises its contribution to national economic and social well being on a sustainable basis. The partnership agreement contains a commitment to promote and support increased planting levels up to 20,000 hectares per annum. The agreement acknowledges that this commitment is subject to available budgetary resources.
The Deputy will be aware that the Government faces very difficult choices in the areas of public finances and may not always be in a position to ensure continuing funding for all programmes. Funding for the forestry sector for 2004 will be determined in the context of the Estimates process which is currently under way. The long-term future of forestry policy will be addressed in the strategic review of forestry which is about to commence shortly. This review will, inter alia, examine the costs of forestry. In the latter context, the House should be aware of the high historic and future cost of forestry, if existing policies are to be maintained. For example, €613 million (or an average of about €88 million p.a.) has been spent on forestry since 1997 and, if existing policies were to continue, annual average costs, assuming respectively 10,000 and 20,000 hectares p.a., would be €100 million p.a. and €130 million p.a. over the next three years. Indeed, by 2020 the annual costs of meeting the Sustaining Progress targets of 20,000 hectares p.a. could be over €210 million p.a.
