Agriculture spokesperson for the Labour Party, Seán Sherlock has said there is a lack of ambition, questioning Minister Hackett over afforestation licences in a recent Dáil debate.
Sherlock said the announced target of 1,040 licences for 2022 indicates that the forestry service has abandoned the target of planting 8,000ha this year.
Whether the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) will reach the 8,000ha target this year, “remains to be seen”, Sherlock said.
Tracking back over the numbers from recent years, the issuing of 1,040 licences would result in a planting of only 4,000ha, Sherlock claimed adding that “the lack of ambition is disappointing”.
“I am not convinced, as the Minister of State is, that all of the stakeholders through Project Woodland are as enthusiastic about the future of forestry policy.
“I think some of those stakeholders are becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of ambition,” Sherlock stated.
‘The ambition is there’
Minister of State, Pippa Hackett said “the ambition is there”, however it “falls on us all to make a concerted effort to encourage and support farmers and landowners to plant”.
Currently, 5,000ha of afforestation licences have been issued but not been planted while the ambition of 1,040 licences equates to more than 8,000ha of afforestation, according to Hackett’s response in the Dáil.
Minister Hackett stated that her department engaged with forestry companies as to why their clients are not planting. The DAFM will contact holders of afforestation licences who have been in receipt of a licence for over six months.
Minister Hackett and the DAFM seek to obtain information on individual issues whether they have changed their minds or leased their lands to a neighbouring farmer.
She added, that “we absolutely need to get down to the granular level from which we are seeking to obtain that information.
“We must do all we can to encourage our farmers to plant the trees for which they get the licences.”
Sherlock stated he would like to work with Minister Hackett to see how targets can be achieved. “The aspiration might be there but the evidence of the practical outworking of reaching the afforestation targets is not,” he added.
“We really need that concerted effort to get farmers planting and landowners engaged in this again. It is essential that we get a start on that as soon as possible,” Minister Hackett concluded.