Under this government, the lowest ever rate of tree planting in Ireland has been recorded, while a massive carbon footprint has also been created through importing timber.
Agriculture Minister, Charlie McConalogue, has failed all stakeholders and has allowed tree-planting to be viewed with suspicion and disdain in an era when the world urgently needs vibrant and rapid afforestation programmes, according to the Rural Independent Group.
Speaking from his Tipperary constituency, the leader of the Rural Independent Group, Deputy Mattie Mc Grath, stated:
“Minister McConalogue and the government have failed miserably to address this crisis over the past eighteen months. It’s not as if this issue has emerged overnight. In fact, the 2019 Mackinnon Report, commissioned by his own Department, identified all the key issues, clearing the way for radical action to be taken.”
“Despite this, the Minister has ‘sat on his hands’, showing an utter disregard for the sector. This inaction now endangers 12,000 jobs within the sector and jeopardises the entire forestry sector, which is at breaking point, due to catastrophic backlogs to the granting of afforestation and felling licenses.”
“The government have swiftly made demands of farmers under their Climate Action Plan, but have been lifeless in showing any such action on this issue, thus, undermining the entire rural economy and tangible efforts to sequester up to 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050 through forestry.”
“Currently, over 1,000 afforestation applications, and approximately 4,500 felling and road licence applications are awaiting a determination by the department. These delays are costing jobs, while having severe social, economic, and environmental impacts on rural communities.”
“For instance, the 2019 MacKinnon Report noted that Ireland had lower afforestation targets than Scotland, of 8,000 and 10,000 hectares respectively per annum. However, despite the lower targets here, Ireland will barely meet 50 percent of this target in 2021, as acknowledged by the Minister himself, while Scotland is surpassing their targets every year.”
“In 2020, only 2,300 hectares were approved for planting here. Over the last five years alone, afforestation targets have been missed by over 15,000 hectares in total or the equivalent of 40 million trees. Had this area been afforested, it had the potential to remove 5.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the lifetime of those forests. This illustrates the flawed approach of the Irish government.”
“The same report alarmingly highlighted a lack of political and administrative commitment to afforestation in Ireland when compared to Scotland’s policy pathway, indicating an overly bureaucratic administration system in operation here.”
“Despite these stark warnings from a government commissioned report in 2019, and the further warning from the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Agriculture report earlier this year, the Minister sits back and does nothing.”
“Such ineptitude by Minister McConalogue and Minister for State, Pippa Hackett, is destroying a vibrant rural agricultural sector. Unilaterally, both Ministers allowed the Forest Service Inspectorate to classify forestry as an industrial operation, requiring an additional ‘appropriate assessment’ planning process to assess all forest projects, including planting, road-building and tree felling.”
“This rigid process, facilitated by the Fianna Fail and the Green Minister, necessitates a 15 km zone around the forest site be scrutinised to determine any impact from the forest operation applied for. The practical application of this means, if say, we were going to plant a forest in St Stephen’s Green, it would essentially mean the area from Swords to Lucan and onto Bray would have to be examined.”
“This new requirement is beyond absurd. However, it appears the government are happy to hide behind this new bureaucratic rule, as it is, truthfully, a sinister attempt to curtail conifer afforestation in Ireland.”
“The Minister for Agriculture and the government, through ineptitude, have stalled the sector, collapsed the afforestation process, starved sawmills of raw materials, deprived forest owners of income and the ability and right to manage their forest holdings, as well as depriving foresters, nurseries and contractors of business. This is forcing farmers to leave the industry,” concluded Deputy Mc Grath.
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