Mr. Ciar?n O'Connor:

That is a tricky question to answer, whether it is one-way or two-way.

We have expressed our views, the Department is conscious of that and it asked Coillte to discuss it with us. Last Thursday I met Coillte to see how those elements could be looked at properly and in a wider context. It falls into different contexts. Licensing is one but the quantum of the timber is the other. Licences for licences' sake are no use unless they have a product at the end of them. That is where we need to be. It has to be made viable for farming to put aside land for forestry because it takes time for that to repay.

People's view is that they are guessing at the future and they do not know what the future is, yet if we were to elaborate what we need in Ireland, it would be clear that we have to have more timber. Every other country does. The average European country's timber makes up more than 40% of its land. We are the only country in which it is this low. It is a no-brainer but the question is of building momentum and people buying into it. Buying into it will be the biggest issue because it is not immediate. People do not see an immediate cash crop the following year. They will have to wait a bit.

With regard to what Deputy Ó Broin was asking, if one does not have the raw material, all the rest is supposition. It does not amount to anything. One has to have the raw material. The raw material is ecologically sound. Why can we not do that? We could make it an objective to achieve because it supports the reduction of carbon. When one does a comparison with reduction of carbon is when timber gains its strength. Until one has to account for one's carbon, why would one bother changing? I am being very crude.

If one brings in the system where one has to measure, which we have done in our own projects, it will be patently obvious that one has to move to a different material. One cannot use certain types of concretes. Concrete has a role to play but it is not the only role to play. Getting that balance is the key and then putting that within the context of what the nation needs. The nation needs it. The question is at what level of priority is Government told to execute it. Those are the balances. If one does not have those balances right, the forestry element will always be the second or third league, whereas it needs to move up to the first.