Grants and subsidies for forestry should be removed when it comes to speculators, who are often major corporations, coming into local areas and buying up land.
The call has been made by Sligo Leitrim Sinn Fein TD Martin Kenny following an IFA meeting in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim, last night where the issue of forestry — and its detrimental affects on rural communities — was highlighted.
Deputy Kenny says 17% of the land of County Leitrim is now under forestry, and in some parishes, it’s up to 40%.
He says land planted with trees is taken up for 60 years, while local communities are left to die as people leave:
