Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 January 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Threat of Bark Beetles to Plantations: Discussion

Mr. Barry Delany:

Regarding the international trade law and the European regulations, the exporting country has those three options. One is to treat it. Mr. Dunne is showing me the information now. The first is the wood is bark-free. The second is the official statement, which is what the UK authorities are doing because they claim they have a pest-free area that is free from these pests. It is an official statement that the wood originates in areas known to be free from D. micans and the other pests. The third is the kiln dried, which was mentioned earlier as well. The options are bark-free; kiln dried; and area freedom. They have those choices. For us as the importing country, we cannot restrict that until such time as we would be able to point to concerns in that territory and that they are not being completely upfront with us about the findings they have. However, they are completely open to us in respect of what they have found to date, what they are doing and the surveillance they are carrying out there.

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