I am thankful for the opportunity to provide an update to the Chamber on the progress being made with responding to the significant damage caused by last winter's storms, particularly in forestry. The volume of timber normally felled over a 2.5-year period was blown down overnight during Storm Éowyn. The latest damage assessment maps show that 27,000 ha of forests were windblown, with 11,400 ha impacted in private forestry. This equates to approximately over 40 million trees blown down by that storm. Counties Leitrim, Roscommon and Cavan were worst affected, where 48% of the windblow occurred. Considerable damage was also caused to electricity lines and other infrastructure by the storms. Immediately after the storm, I established a windblow task force, which has since finalised an action plan to guide our response, identify bottlenecks and rectify them. I thank the people from the different sectors and the officials from my own Department who really worked diligently with regard to putting all of this in place and getting things going. There was an awful volume of work to be done. Considerable damage was also caused to electricity lines and other infrastructure by the storms. To further speed up the process, we have allowed the use of both thinning and clear-fell licences in removing storm-damaged trees. Our data now shows that 77% of windblown trees already have a felling licence issued by my Department. My Department also continues to progress the introduction of a reconstitution scheme for storm-affected forest owners. As I have said previously, I will ensure that forest owners that carry out clearance or replanting now will not be disadvantaged when the scheme will be introduced. That is very important for those forest owners to know. I acknowledge the contribution Coillte has made to helping home and farm owners who are impacted by storms to have their power restored. Coillte's staff and contractors were immediately available. They worked tirelessly and in hazardous conditions to clear trees and open road access immediately after the event. Coillte has also laid the satellite mapping of the storm damage and I have worked with it in close co-operation with my Department to establish the impact across all counties that were affected. Since then, Coillte has moved on to prioritising the salvaging of the storm damage material. This includes the corridors along ESB lines where possible. This includes a detailed assessment of areas of potential risk through drone images. Coillte is working closely with the ESB. I have been informed that power lines adjacent to trees are a priority for tree-felling works for energy reasons. Based on this information, Coillte has developed a programme of works to incorporate these prioritised power line clearance works into its own harvesting programme. Work is well under way in that regard. Both Coillte and the private forestry industry have undertaken huge efforts to deal with the damage. Currently, more than 90% of the harvesting capacity in this country is working in windblown areas. Again, that is very important. A total of 90% of the machinery involved in harvesting is working on windblow sites. It is important to emphasise that the clearance of windblow areas is a complex, slow, difficult and dangerous process. As the Minister of State with responsibility for farm safety and for safety in general in those type of hazardous conditions, I am placing a big significance on the importance of the work, the protection of our power lines, keeping energy going to people's homes and the protection of the people doing that hazardous work. That is also very important. That is a top priority for all of us. Both my Department and Coillte are continuing to engage with the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the ESB on the forestry corridor working groups. I thank the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien very much for his work. As part of this co-operation, my Department has contributed to the winter resilience plan 2025, which has been finalised by ESB Networks earlier this year. My Department has also inputted extensively to the framework for the draft legislation being discussed. It is my intention to ensure that the ESB will be fully empowered to better manage this issue in the future. To be clear, we have in place long-standing forest corridor requirements in legislation to protect the electricity network where it interacts with forestry land. In fact, the ESB and its representatives are empowered under current legislation to lop or cut any tree, scrub or hedges which obstructs or interferes with electric wires. Such works are a matter between the ESB and anyone acting on its behalf and the landowner in question and do not require a felling licence from my Department. The proposed Bill, however, aims to enhance the resilience of the electricity grid and therefore provides additional, proactive measures that allow for the establishment and maintenance of designated forestry corridors within existing forestry and the maintenance of clear land around existing infrastructure, which, of course, is very important. When debating the Bill, I would like to ensure that the new legislation provides the protection needed for the public, but it also has to be proportionate for the forest owners in the State who will also be affected. I thank everybody for their work on this. I acknowledge the work of the Minister and of all the other people. The people who are a lot more important in this debate are not the people in this House in suits, with all due respect; it is the people who had to go out at night, working to clear the lines and trying to restore power in bad and dangerous conditions. They are the people who we all want to thank and we want to say how grateful we are for them. There is no worse place a person could be than inside a forest with trees criss-crossed every way and dangerous power lines knocked and understanding and knowing how important it is to get the power going to those homes and people. We had them throughout County Kerry. We had them throughout the country and in the counties I have referenced. People had no power or heat. It was horrendous for everybody. I sincerely thank the workers and the people who strive so hard and put so much effort into trying to clear the lines. That job of work was done. It is now up to all of us from a political point of view to make sure the strengthening legislation is there to help this work to be carried on in the future and to protect the property rights of the people who will be affected. I thank everybody. This is not an us-and-them situation; this is all of the people inside of this House. All we want is safety, power going to homes, heat going to homes, the continuity of supply and being fair to the people who own the land. That is all we are trying to achieve.

Sentiment score: 0.11