The recent universal outrage at the proposed venture between Coillte and Gresham House has placed a spotlight on the difficulties in the Irish forestry programme.
However, it has also created a smokescreen which has hidden the real scandal in the forestry sector and that is that for the first time since the 1980s, we have no forestry programme in place.
Minister [Charlie] McConalogue and [Minister of State, Pippa] Hackett announced in November to great fanfare that the government has put together a package worth €1.3 billion.
Minister Hackett declared this is “the biggest and most farmer friendly forestry programme in the history of the state”.
Minister McConalogue stated as recently as last week “it is the Rolls Royce programme aimed at supporting farmers”.
Unfortunately his senior officials at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) forgot to tell him the Rolls Royce is up on blocks.
Forestry crisis
I’m sure the same officials have told the minister that there are over 7,000ha worth of approvals in the system ready to be planted, but what they neglected to say is that many of these will not proceed.
This is because farmers and landowners have moved on and decided that they could not wait any longer for a decision.
The previous afforestation scheme was to finish in 2020; this was extended to the end of 2022 to allow for the development of the new programme.
DAFM has had over two years to prepare this programme and last week we find out it hasn’t even submitted it to the EU for state aid approval.
Because of the well documented failings of DAFM, the private forestry sector is on its knees.
Everyone had been clinging on to the arrival of the long-awaited ‘Rolls Royce’ to lift the sector and give farmers and landowners the confidence to re-engage with the idea of incorporating forestry as part of their enterprise.
Nurseries which have struggled to keep the show on the road for the last few years were depending on this renewed vigour to kick-start a new era for the industry.
Instead what has happened? Nothing. Yet another false dawn and Minister Hackett reluctantly informed the Dáil last week that this mess could take up to eight months to resolve.
The industry has been campaigning for the introduction of an Independent Forestry Development Agency to help drive the industry forward.
Officials at DAFM have resisted such an agency, could it be because such an agency might demand accountability?
From John Kavanagh, Co. Wexford.