Ms Imelda Hurley:

I am mindful of the request on time so I will identify the key areas of my statement. I am grateful for the opportunity to engage with the committee. With me today is Mark Carlin, managing director of Coillte Forest. Coillte currently manages an estate of 7% of the land area of Ireland, comprising of over 1 million acres, of which 90% is forested. Today, we are the largest forester and timber producer in Ireland and the largest provider of outdoor recreation in the country. We facilitate and develop renewable energy projects and we carry out nature conservation and biodiversity enhancement projects. We understand the importance of forests for wood, climate, nature and people. The criticality of our industry is evident in that we were deemed an essential service during the very tight Covid-19 related lockdown of last April and May. Over the last 30 years, Coillte has continually evolved, embraced change and brought new thinking to the management of Ireland’s forestry estate. We will continue to do this as we look ahead and recalibrate in order to ensure that we have the right balance as we manage our forests for the future.

I very much welcome the appointment of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and we look forward to working with them in evolving a vision for forestry that responds to the challenges we face in the century ahead. While the current forestry programme will continue until the end of 2021, Coillte will be a proactive participant in the stakeholder group that is being established to help develop its successor. It is imperative that any new programme focuses on providing a balanced approach to the multiple benefits of forestry and to a regulatory approach that works for all stakeholders.

Having outlined the criticality of our sector, I must point out that the current licensing crisis is of extreme concern to everyone in the forestry sector, and it is a crisis. The Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 is an important step in putting in place a forestry appeals process that is fit for purpose, and that allows the forestry appeals committee, FAC, to sit in multiple divisions and to be in a position to determine appeals swiftly and efficiently. Coillte welcomes the implementation of this legislation and thanks the members of the Oireachtas for its speedy passage. However, while the new legislation is important, it is only one of a number of key steps required to resolve this crisis, which has seriously challenged the sector throughout this year.

Right now, timber supply is at critically low levels, so low that jobs have already been lost, with many more still under threat. Coillte normally sells our annual timber harvest through a combination of an annual contract with each customer and a series of timber auctions. Our annual contract transacts half the timber that we supply to sawmills each year. This event takes place every October and is of fundamental importance to Coillte’s customers because it provides them with security of supply for the year ahead. Due to a lack of licensed material, we have had to cancel this October’s annual contract event. Alongside this, we are also unable to schedule any timber auctions, which are critical to our customers to procure the remainder of their timber supply requirements.

The reality for Coillte today is that we are doing everything we can to keep the timber supply chain across Ireland functioning, and to ensure the Department has all required information to process our licence applications, while at all times remaining in constant contact with our customers on what is now a case of managing emergency supplies. Right now, we are doing this with very significant difficulty and are operating on a very short-term basis.

This issue has arisen because the rates at which new licences are being issued, roads permitted and appeals heard are currently all below what is required to meet both our and our customers’ requirements. For the forestry sector and timber market to function effectively, Coillte’s annual harvest programme for 2021 must be fully licensed by the end of 2020. Currently, Coillte only has 16% of its timber licensed and available for next year, with a further 2.3 million cu. m of additional material needing to be licensed by the Department before the end of this year. In order to achieve this, the current licensing rate needs to almost triple. Additionally, approximately one quarter of our 2021 harvest programme is dependent on road permits being issued by the Department. The current rate of issue of these permits is inadequate and is, already in many instances, preventing us from accessing licensed timber.

Our timber supply challenge is further compounded by the fact that approximately 700,000 cu. m of Coillte’s forestry licences are currently under appeal to the FAC. The hearing rate for our appeals, while recently increased, is still currently not sufficient to clear the backlog of Coillte appeals within what we consider to be the required timeframe for our industry to function normally.

All in all, the new legislation was only one of a number of steps required to address this crisis. In order to make a further significant positive impact, the FAC needs to be resourced such that all our appeals are determined by the end of January and to ensure that, going forward, all appeals are determined within a two-month turnaround timeframe. Additionally, the Department needs more resources to meet the required tripling of our current forestry licensing rate. Without these resources, we will remain in crisis throughout 2021.

I now turn to ash dieback. Along with the entirety of the forestry industry, Coillte is determined to manage this disease effectively and to do whatever we can to restore ash to our forests and hedgerows. At all times, the goal is not only to see the species survive, but to implement measures to allow it to thrive. This has led Coillte to be part of the search for provenances of ash that are resistant to the disease. We form part of the Ash Society of Ireland, which was set up by the Department to find ways to save ash. We have identified 200 provenances of ash from throughout Europe that had strains that are resistant to dieback.

The fight against ash dieback is a long one but we believe we are starting to make some good progress.

Before concluding, I will comment on the Brexit challenge. People in our sector are increasingly concerned about the prospect of a hard Brexit. Approximately 60% of Irish forestry products are exported to the UK and any disruption to supply chains would likely have a severe employment impact. This is particularly so for the panel products sector, which would face tariffs of 6%, thereby significantly undermining its competitiveness against domestic UK supplies.

Finally, as the licensing crisis has highlighted, Ireland needs a regulatory framework that supports the continued development of the entire forest sector. The current system imposes serious constraints on afforestation efforts, as well as on the efficient operation of the forest and timber sector. It is timely for the Department, in full consultation with the forest products sector, to complete a root and branch review of forest regulation in order to ensure that procedures and processes are fit for purpose going forward and that the right balance can be achieved.

As an immediate priority, it is critical that building blocks be put in place to restore confidence in Irish forestry. The Department has a critical and positive role in achieving this by processing the current forestry licences at pace and by the forestry appeals committee clearing the appeals backlog as a matter of urgency. I look forward to discussing these matters further with members.