The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association have hit back at proposals by Coillte to work in partnership with a UK asset management company, as they aim to plant a further 100,000ha of new forestry.
Patsy Daly from the INHFA has outlined how these proposals are a major threat to rural communities and insists this development must not go ahead.
He questions how many communities are dealing with the scourge of a failed forestry policy that has prioritised the interests of investment funds and multinationals ahead of local farmers and the rural economy.
It has resulted, he claims, in local farmers being unable to compete for farmland in their area as forestry premium and tax exemptions has given forestry investors a critical advantage in the purchase of land.
Patsy has been speaking to Midwest Radio’s Michael D McAndrew...
