The Dealer sees that Niall Collins ‘shopped local’ in hosting the first of four planned ‘Let’s Talk Trees’ events in the heart of the Minister of State’s traditional fiefdom at Templeglantine, west Limerick this week.
Collins, whose brief includes forestry, will be hoping that the series of events might reignite farmer interest in forestry.
However, whether many of those in attendance on Wednesday were actually talking trees is questionable.
The latest forestry dashboard figures would suggest that Abbeyfeale’s recent capture of their first Limerick senior football title in 20 years is likely to have generated more chat in Templeglantine than the merits or demerits of Sitka spruce.
With the Department’s dashboard figures indicating that total planting levels are likely to drop under 2,000ha again this year – back 25% on 2025 – Collins might get individual farmers talking trees but he will need a minor miracle to convince many of them to commit their land to trees.
Talk is cheap.
