Mr. Gerry Egan:

As regards what our sawmill customers have done, the Deputy alluded to the success of our customers in reorienting themselves towards export markets. People may not fully appreciate that in 2006 we built 90,000 houses and apartments in Ireland. We did not necessarily finish them all, but 90,000 were built. Today we are building about 8,000 units per year, yet we are producing more timber now than we were in 2006. That has all had to go somewhere.

This committee may often hear from people in the food industry about the huge success of food exports. Proportionately, however, our customers in the sawmill sector have achieved more than that. For them to be able to succeed in those markets, huge investments have been made by progressive businesses. All the timber now exported from Ireland is planed, so there is no rough-sawn timber any more, and it comes in multiple lengths. I would encourage members of this committee to visit some of these places to see the state-of-the-art machinery installed, as well as product and market developments. That has happened because those customers have had the security of knowing that the supply is available and will be brought to the market as demand increases.

It is great for us to have an opportunity to pay tribute to our own customers and their achievements. We keep talking about an export-led recovery and we now have a €2.3 billion forestry sector whose technology and marketing techniques are ultra-modern. It is playing a major economic role, albeit an unappreciated one, especially in rural areas.