Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the witnesses very much for coming here. Obviously, many questions have been asked. The witnesses paint a very grim picture of the industry itself. In their opinion, it seems to be that this plan was ill-thought-out, ill-conceived and irrational. Have the witnesses costed the actual loss to themselves to date? What figures are they looking at? It makes no sense.

We know that timber is basically the most efficient building material in the world. It is not just the witnesses' industry. We are here fighting for more housing. What do we build houses with? What do we build roofs with? Timber. As I said, it is a serious issue in the whole country. I am very sorry to hear Mr. Reardon's particular story. It really is heart-rending. I know that does not mean anything to him.

It seems to be that there is no thought behind this. There is no forward thinking whatsoever. The scheme itself seems to fall down on all issues. As a committee, we will definitely be challenging the format of the increase from €668 to €7,400. That is nearly tenfold or elevenfold. How is that justified? That is one of the areas at which we will definitely be looking. The whole scheme seems to be unfair, however.

What is the immediate solution, if there is one? If the witnesses had a magic wand this minute and could say, "We will do something now", what could be done? Forgive my lack of knowledge on this, but the witnesses talked about species of trees and said they were advised 20 years ago. Are there any trees at the moment that are immune to the bark beetle, as such, or immune to a lot of diseases that we can grow fairly quickly in Ireland?