Mr. John Reardon:

The plan was a very feasible one. After about 30 to 35 years, the stems are basically in three parts. The bottom metre is used for making hurleys. That is a premium product. The second 4 m - roughly - goes into planks, 2 in. thick, 12 in. wide. This is another premium part and those planks are used for furniture-making and all things like this. They make good money. The top and last third, which is the lowest-value product are the branches, the crooked ones, and the ones that just do not make it. They are used for firewood, which also makes good money because ash is the best firewood going. After 35 to 40 years, you are looking at a situation where you might take out the equivalent of half an acre per year, in different trees, and that would give you an income of maybe €10,000 or €20,000 per annum. That continues forever because the oncoming trees grow. You just keep on going back and going back. It is an ongoing business. It is a pension where you do not have a pension. That was the way I looked at it and that was very feasible according to the Teagasc advisers and the agricultural advisers. This system works. It works in Norway and Sweden.