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WE CONDUCTED A survey recently. It told us that seven in 10 Irish adults said they didn’t notice anything about forests or woodlands in any media over the past year.
So they clearly haven’t been getting attention. But I intend that over next year, that situation is going to change dramatically.
Because there is a plan afoot to make sure that 2022 will be a year in which we all, very consciously, talk about, and think about, what we, as a nation, want from our trees.
The importance of trees
Trees sequester carbon. They are really important in the fight against climate change. They are also if planted in the right place, great for biodiversity, water quality and recreation.
So I was happy that the survey also revealed that three in four of us would like more forests in our county, and more trees planted in our nearest urban area.
Without a doubt, we do need more trees. At 11%, Ireland’s forest cover is among the lowest of any country in the EU. So we are not at all heavily afforested.
But deciding that we need more trees is only a first step. We also need to address questions such as what sort of trees do we want to grow? Who do we want to grow them? What level of public funding do we want to put into them? And what do we want them for … Climate? Biodiversity? Community benefits? Timber production and jobs? Or all of the above?
Such a plethora or questions is sure to produce a wide range of responses, so we have plans for a serious level of public engagement over the next year. We are going to hold a ‘deliberative dialogue’ with 99 representative citizens, rather like a Citizens’ Assembly. We are also going to conduct a Youth Forum, as well as carrying out online public consultation and questionnaires.
It’s really important that people do engage because we are at something of a crossroads.
Our current situation
We have managed to bring forest cover to its highest level in over 350 years, but levels of afforestation are slowing down and we are not going to reach our targets unless we get our systems working well, rebuild trust with landowners and industry, and also develop a shared vision of what we are aiming for, so that those who are thinking of planting, know they have the support of society behind them.
Right now, society is convinced of the benefits of trees. That much was obvious from the public attitudes survey which we carried out to get some insights to help the preparations for the upcoming engagements. And some of the insights were fascinating.
In the first instance, I was surprised to learn that over 75% of us are living fewer than 10 kilometres from a forest or urban woodland. That proximity is surely important, as nearly six in 10 of us visited a forest in the last year. Of those, just about half of us visited at least weekly, with the vast majority saying we were doing so for exercise.
We are pretty happy with the way our forests and woodlands are managed too, with nearly half saying we wouldn’t change anything, while another third would just like more toilet facilities.
Biodiversity and community
It was good to see an appreciation of the benefits of forests to communities. 88% of those surveyed said they thought forests and woodlands did benefit local communities, with the top four ways in which they do so thought to be: through helping address climate change; supporting mental health; improving air quality, and providing space for recreation and exercise.
But there was somewhat less recognition of the role forests play in timber production and supporting employment. Given that the sector contributes in the region of €2.3 billion to the economy and supports 12,000 jobs, I was a little surprised at that and it certainly seems to indicate a role for the deliberative process in helping us understand and appreciate the role timber is playing in the economy and can play in both locking up carbon and providing us with a sustainable building material.
I personally think this is an aspect we need to pay attention to. We produce and process a huge amount of softwood in this country, only to see the vast majority of it exported, for construction in other countries. But isn’t it time we considered using at least some more of that timber for construction here? I know it hasn’t been the tradition up to now, but maybe it’s time for some change?
After all, at a time when we need so many more houses, what more climate friendly, sustainable future could we put in place than one which sees Irish grown timber compete more with concrete as our architects’ and builders’ construction material of choice?
The ways in which we, as a Government, might manage to support that, is one of the discussions I am really looking forward to having, amongst all the others, in the next year.
Pippa Hackett is a Green Party Senator and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture
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Gotta love the way they’re so considerate of taxpayer’s money when it’s not bankers they’re giving it to!!
“MFI was established to provide additional lending to start-up , newly established or growing microenterprises with loans of between €2,000 and €25,000 available and the department said that the average size of a loan under the scheme is €16,000.”
A € 2000 loan? That wouldn’t cover the bar tab at the Dail for one TD.
Some individuals would get money far easier from a relieving officer, and with less B.S
Indeed.
But these ‘schemes’ are all about propaganda for government & the self serving elites to make it look that they are doing something & care. It also serves to distract attention from the one thing that all businesses need & from which all else follows (including necessary finance) – customers.
They want to distract from this business 101 reality because increasing customers with money (sales) in the +macro+ economy is precisely the opposite effect of the Eurozone wide austerity policy.
Termed the ‘paradox of thrift’ principle, after Keynes in the 1920s & following the proven empirical truth of it obvious to all by the exact same austerity ‘mistake’ of the 1930s, no one would dare to ignore it in the 50 years that followed. (‘Mistake’ that is for the majority, of course, not the elite few who profit just as much from recession.)
Unfortunately, following the efforts of elites to deny the very basis of macro economics of the last 30 years, in order to deny much any role for government, we see exactly the same unnecessary recession/depression & mass unemployment resulting again as happened following the Finance sector rigged casino/pyramid crash as 80 years ago.
The Euro currency system itself has been designed to effectively deny any stabilising counter cyclical role for governments. Such is the level of ‘capture’ of mainstream economics, politics & media that even now, after 6 years & conditions in the Euro zone still getting worse, most are still in denial.
They couldn’t approve anything because the lads controlling the money hadn’t got the whiteboard training, the chalk they were using was completely ineffective on it! You wait and see next year though!
The interest rates on these loans are also nuts. I considered it for my business but there’s no point with insane interest rates.
Better off going on dragons den, then dealing with them shower of donkeys
Pity the question did not also ask how many civil servants are involved in the admin of the scheme how much their salaries are and office expenses etc. that’s the only real jobs created and they are non productive and a drain on public finances. Another smokescreen created by our political system and permanent government our civil servants who only really create jobs for themselves.
Should the money just be in a bag in brutons desk or something ?
@Michelle Hennessey: What more enlightening would be how many loan applications there were. What would therefore be the success rate? How long from application to decision?
The success of the agency is how does it compare to the banks?
Does the agency have info as to how many of the applications were previously denied by a bank?
Your article as it is does not tell us much.
If all that information was included, the story might be too positive. It is designed, like most news here, to provoke negative reactions from readers and gain more page views (and thus advertising revenue).
The headline could easily have read “216 jobs supported by government scheme for small businesses” but that might have seemed to positive.
Ryan: I agree. Maybe we should be asking Michelle as to how much more of that info she has and decided to leave out of the article to make it more sensational.
Seems that 90 loans were approved, which amounts to 45% of applications, giving you a grand total of 200 applications with 110 refused (55%). And an average of 9 loans per month approved with 11 loans per months rejected over the past 10 months since the scheme was implemented.
I wonder how many people work in the department where all of this occurs. Dealing with 20 loans applications a month is obviously no more than a two person job.
@alan one of the qualifications of the microfinance scheme is that you have been denied a loan from your bank. The percentages pretty much show that just over half the applicants were succesful. Which shows a very poor amount of businesses applying. Why is that I would ask. As a start up business myself the terms arent suitable so I havent bothered.
This isn’t government’s role, this is a function of our banks
Is there any difference between the two lately?
Other than that the banks tell the government what to do I don’t think there’s any differences at all!
Could I get a loan to start a small company promoting this scheme on behalf of Gov. or do I need to be a member of FG. or Lab. party first?
It’s all banking money anyway so as long as its theirs they will be reluctant to part with it.
I remember something about a five year plan and 100,000 oh yeah something about ” vote yes to Lisbon is a vote for jobs” and people who can create jobs can’t get loans ?
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