Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Forestry is complicated with regard to decarbonisation. In the first years after a forest is planted, it is actually a net source of emissions because the land has typically been drained, depending on the soil type, and it takes time for the wood to grow. It is more in the latter part of a forest’s life that we start to see the benefits in terms of decarbonisation. The Deputy is right that the figures for planting were low in 2021 and 2022 but my expectation is that we will start to see that radically improve because the new programme is very significant in its supports and benefits. We have to go to 8,000 ha from 2023 onwards and the land use review will show that being further evolved and developed.

The Deputy mentioned the issue of what the wood is used for. There is a very significant volume of wood coming from the plantations, which are very large, given we were planting almost 25,000 ha a year in the mid-1990s. A lot of that wood will be felled in the next couple of decades and will provide very significant, good quality lumber for the Irish construction industry, as I understand it, and it will not all be imported lumber. While there has been an increase in timber frame houses and timber use in construction, I do not think we have been ambitious enough and we will be going much further. Neighbouring countries are already doing this so it is not unproven technology. The benefits of embedded timber in construction materials, be it laminated timber or cut timber, are manifold and I expect that number to radically increase as part of our climate response. We have the timber and it is in the construction industry where the change needs to take place.