Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Forestry is an important contributor to our economy and exports. Too often, it is regarded as the Cinderella industry of our agricultural sector and rural way of life and that must change. In this context I welcome the Forestry Bill 2013 and the opportunity to contribute to it. The Bill is the start of a change which, I believe, is needed in the industry.

I remember being told in secondary school about the green gold of forestry in Norway, Sweden and Finland. It was often cited as a major contributor to the wealth of those Scandinavian nations. As students we never fully understood how Ireland could not capitalise on its green gold, given the more favourable growing climate for forestry here and the fact that this was a naturally afforested island prior to Cromwell and the various plantations.

There is still great potential for our island in the forestry sector if we make the right decisions. As a small open economy with a strong services dimension, our economic fortunes are closely tied to the consumer influences of taste elsewhere and economic performance in America, the EU and further afield. The difference between GNP and GDP highlights the challenge. Therefore, in developing our economy and export offering, natural resources of a renewable and sustainable nature, such as forestry, are very important. With this in mind, I note the research of UCD and UCC in 2010 which highlighted that when the processing sector, for example, panel board mills, sawmills and other wood products, was included in estimates the forest industry was worth €2.2 billion to our economy annually.

It is a native natural source of wealth worth protecting and expanding. It is a source of wealth in a sector in which global demand is expected to increase in the coming 20 years. As a country, we should be clever in how we position ourselves to meet this challenge and opportunity and the Bill is a start in this regard.

This country has shown leadership as a small nation in respect of its environmental commitments and adherence to international treaties and other protocols.

While some may query the speed and depth of our compliance, other larger industrial powers have failed to sign up to them at all. Forestry can and will play further a significant role in meeting national greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and in fighting climate change. It also is worth noting that wood fuels are the second largest contributor, after wind, to the growing renewable energy sector in Ireland. This has helped to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 560,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2012.

Forest cover stands at almost 11% nationally, with privately owned forests accounting for 46% of this total. There have been many attractive economic incentives to bring people into private forestry. However, a major public relations battle remains to be won in rural Ireland in respect of increasing the forestry footprint. The planting of land is still met with great suspicion in rural Ireland even if the land concerned is of little use for anything else. One point that should be further developed is that communities which engage in forestry activity should benefit more from the employment opportunities the industry presents. This would be of real benefit to such rural communities by contributing in real terms to the social and economic rural development of such areas.

Half a century ago, the forestry sector was highly labour intensive. In recent years, however, the majority of forestry operations have been mechanised to a dramatic extent, particularly in respect of harvesting. These operations involve the employment of specialist roving workers who do not necessarily reside in the rural community in which they are working and planting. To a large extent, the same is true in respect of planting, which historically was carried out by residents in the rural communities. It now largely is carried out by contractors who do not necessarily draw their workforce from the rural communities in which they are planting. Changes in work practices, such as the abandonment of thinning in favour of earlier clear-felling, also reduce the dependence on rural-based labour.

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