Vol. 576 No. 2
121 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the amount of funding from his Department which will be put aside for forestry when his Department takes responsibility for forestry from 1 January 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29412/03]
The 2004 allocation for forestry in the recently published Book of Estimates at €108 million represents a 31% increase over the allocation in 2003. On taking responsibility for forestry matters officially from 1 January 2004, forestry will be established as one of the core activities of the Department of Agriculture and Food.
I assure landowners and investors that the Government is committed to forestry as a vibrant, viable industry capable of providing a sustainable alternative economic land use.
