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

While Deputy McNamara raises a valid issue, he is comparing chalk and cheese in that thinnings, particularly first thinnings, are of no interest to major sawmills. My experience of forestry since before Coillte was established has been that sawmills will not have difficulty obtaining 10,000 or 20,000 cu. m of timber per annum, especially if they are seeking thinnings. However, most of the major timber mill companies will use between 300,000 and 500,000 cu. m of timber per annum. Smaller mills using 20,000 cu. m per annum, primarily thinnings, will not have any problem obtaining timber because they will look for small timbers. I would be surprised, therefore, if they care about the proposal. A man named Max, who used to make stakes in-----