Cavan Monaghan Sinn Féin TD, Matt Carthy, has said that the government have absolutely failed to come close to reaching its own afforestation targets.
The Programme for Government and the Climate Action plan required the delivery of 8,000 hectares of afforestation each year. In the lifetime of
the current government the closest they have come is 2,434 in 2020 according to the local deputy.
In a response to a parliamentary question to the Minister for Agriculture, he confirmed that 2023 will be the worst year yet with just 1,649 hectares planted.
Mr Carthy, who was the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture until earlier this year, said that the only tangible delivery by this government on
Forestry was the approval for Coillte to engage with a British investment company that would see thousands of heactares of Irish lands in the hands of corporate interests, subsidised by Irish taxpayers.
The Cavan Monaghan TD said it is clear, after almost 4 years of this coalition, that the government parties of government lack the vision,
ambition and competence required to devise and implement a Forestry strategy that delivers for communities, for local economies, for farmers or for the environment.
