Ms Geraldine O'Sullivan:

Forestry in Northern Ireland is very different from forestry here. It is predominantly state-owned. There is not a great volume of timber coming from the North. The Department of agriculture has been in communication with its counterpart but we have not done so through the UFU ourselves. As an association, we met with that union last year and this is not something it typically deals with because there is a very small number of farmers involved in forestry. I refer to productive forestry in particular. They may have old forest or woodland on their land but they are not in the private forestry sector.

On construction, we have not had consultations with CIF because we are very much of the view that this is a temporary issue and will be dealt with within a set timeframe. We need to co-ordinate and ensure there is sufficient timber. We do not want anything to jeopardise the sawmill sector. We are very strong on that. Farmers are going to bear the brunt of anything that happens in this regard. It will not be the sawmill sector or the industry. That is why, as Mr. Fleming referred to, the nurseries, the different forest owner groups and farmers are in constant communication. They know from the experience of ash dieback that, if the bark beetle comes in, it is they who will lose their livelihood and timber and suffer a loss of earnings and that they will be obligated to manage the issue at increased cost and to replant. To be fair, it is farmers who are at risk. I can understand the concerns of sawmills and the construction industry but we are looking to have something done very quickly. It can be done. Timeframes can be set for these things to ensure a response. That is very much what we are looking for here.

We have to be careful. As was said in the opening statement, short-term gains have to be weighed against the long term. We have plans to grow our forestry sector. It is a very significant part of our climate action plan. We are supposed to have 8,000 ha of new forest established. We have to restore farmers' faith that we are going to protect their forests and that we are going to be vigilant. The papers I read in preparing for this meeting show that the risk of invasive pests is increasing. We need to assure farmers we are on top of this. That is my point.