Oireachtas Agriculture Committee under Jackie Cahill T.D. launches Forestry Report

At the moment, afforestation is in serious difficulty with only 25% of planting targets under the Programme for Government being met.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine has launched its report on the serious issues affecting the forestry industry in Ireland.

There are major issues currently facing the forestry sector in Ireland and it is for this reason that the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, under the Chairmanship of Tipperary Fianna Fáil T.D. Jackie Cahill, chose this topic for its first substantive piece of work during this Dáil term.

The report puts forward a series of suggestions for the Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, Senator Pippa Hackett to implement in order to tackle these growing issues.

Cahill is also calling on the developing company to make a gesture of goodwill to the area and the land owners in particular who gave the initial permission of access to their property which allowed the project to get started in the first place.

Tipperary Deputy Jackie Cahill

The Fianna Fáil T.D. continued to say: “We are highlighting today a lot of the issues facing this sector and we are today making recommendations to the Minister and the Government on how we see some of these key issues being resolved. At the moment, afforestation is in serious difficulty with only 25% of planting targets under the Programme for Government being met – that is to plant 8,000 hectares of forestry per year.

“There is also a serious difficulties with the issuing of licences. There is serious discontent within all sectors of the industry. Hopefully this report with all of its recommendations will commence rectifying some of the main problems in the forestry sector. It is vital that this is done as a matter of urgency for our environment, our economy and for the betterment of rural Ireland.”, Cahill concluded.