There has been much discussion on the Coillte and Gresham House deal. Many of the issues have been aired already, but I will focus on the policy around it, namely, the policy to favour the State sector over the private sector. In terms of licences achieved, in 2022, Coillte achieved 110% of licences whereas private felling achieved only 80% for private afforestation. In other words, farm afforestation only achieved 60%. In fact, from 2020 to 2022, even by the Department’s own target figures, only 67% of licences were achieved for the domestic sector. Can we look at this bias into the future surrounding this policy?

I have two questions around this. First, in terms of future fund management, has the Government considered any private investment vehicle that could do the job of Gresham House into the future to allow for domestic investors to take part in the afforestation programme? Second, is it time now to establish a forestry agency to oversee the important work, to try to hit these targets and to ensure rural and domestic growers will not be disadvantaged?

Our objective is to go from a situation whereby only approximately 10% of the country is under forest to get up to 18%, which will almost double the amount of the country that is afforested. That will require the State, through Coillte, to plant more forests, particularly on public land. It will require farmers to plant more trees. It will require private investment, which can of course come from anywhere, including from domestic Irish investment funds. That said, the people who can make the biggest difference here are farmers. They own most of the land in the country. By getting involved in forestry they can make the biggest difference. That is why, under our new forestry programme, we are trying to make it much more attractive for farmers to do so by keeping the single farm payment, providing 20 years of premiums instead of 15, providing tax-free income at the end of it in many cases, and a 33% increase in premiums.