Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The vast majority of timber coming on the market is public timber as the amount of private forest timber coming on the market is very small.

Am I right in thinking that there is an electronic auction every month at which each timber mill bids? However, the five big milling companies are all regionally based so effectively Coillte ensures that timber is coming up in every region all the time because it is aware of the mills' requirements. Each one has a particular area of interest but I accept that there are overlapping areas. Obviously, the nearer the timber is to a mill, the cheaper it is because haulage is a major cost. Where they do not have a formal contract with Coillte, there is a clear gentleman's agreement that timber will be made available to keep all the mills functioning so they can meet their market requirements. It is made available on a regional basis. In other words, if there were five owners, one region could be supplying a load of timber while another region supplied none. That would not suit the mill in a region from which no timber was being supplied. In reality, this understanding works more effectively than if five owners were involved. Is my understanding of how and why it works correct?