Ms Imelda Hurley:

The Senator raises a very important point. When we look forward, we must consider the scale of challenge in terms of climate action, the need to decarbonise the built environment, the need for regulatory changes to hopefully allow for broader uses of timber in building and on top of that, the need to ensure that there is enough of the right type of trees that will support the built environment. All of that needs to come together. Very often the focus can be on native forests. I am glad the Senator has highlighted the importance of productive forests and the types of trees that will deliver productive forests. There is an awful lot to do in getting that balance right going forward. That is why, when we launched the vision last year, one of our ambitions was to promote the use of timber and timber frame homes. That is really important not just for Coillte, but for Ireland in terms of climate action. Hopefully, those 450,000 ha will get planted. There is a huge job of work to do. Then we need to make sure that there is pull-through in demand, because there is nothing better than demand to ultimately create supply. It is a very long supply challenge in terms of how long it takes to grow a tree.