Mr. Simon White:

As I already explained, that is another reason why we feel that Teagasc should be brought in to look into that. Phytosanitary security is actually relaxed compared to what it was. In the early 2000s, they relaxed it to bring in a certification system but it was recommended to have a quarantine time over that in order that people would identify risks when the trees were brought in, rather than planted out in the open country where they could do damage.

Regarding the inspectorate, with respect, I do not think the number of people who are involved in inspecting the timber in the quantities that are coming into our ports is enough to protect us. I do not know but I suspect it is not and, therefore, we are at a risk. That needs to be researched and looked into and a proper phytosanitary security system put in place because, for instance, if we identify different species that we can plant, where are they? They are not being grown in this country at the moment. If we are going to have to import them, do we want to import another disease? We must be very careful about what we do. We made the massive mistake in this country of importing ash. It was ridiculous when we should have been propagating those trees in this country from our own native ash. Then, we would not have this problem but this is what we did. We need to learn by our past mistakes and give our research institutes the resources to find out what needs to be done to have a healthy forestry woodland industry going forward.