Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One thing the Minister needs to be mindful of when we speak about emissions and sequestration is that at present, as I told him during the talks on Government formation, we have a target in this country of 7,000 ha of forestry per year. I spoke to two sawmill owners yesterday. Next October, they will be out of timber. They are putting plans in place to bring timber in from Latvia. That is the reality when 1,500 cases are held up. We are talking about sowing a few trees here and there on farms. We need to get real and cop on to what is going on in this country because of objections to what has gone in. I tell the Minister, as a new Minister, this issue needs sorting straight away. We will not sow 2,000 ha. In October, most of the mills will be out of timber. They will not have it.

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