Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a timber crisis in the country, which is threatening the entire forestry sector, the haulage sector that relies heavily on it, the sawmills that process it and the end users of timber, such as people in the construction industry. Unless the Government acts quickly, Ireland will soon run out of essential construction products, such as pallets and timber for the construction industry and our supply chains, forcing timber production lines to shut. Managing directors of top sawmills in Ireland say that only for the pandemic and the shutdown in Ireland they would have run out of timber by now. We are facing a nightmare scenario whereby stocks have decreased and shut down and lay-offs might be only weeks away. These people have been given notice that there is the potential for lay-offs in the very near future.

The reason for the crisis is that the permit system for planting and harvesting trees and making forestry roads has been overwhelmed because almost 2,000 applications and 400 approved permits are being appealed by a handful of so-called environmentalists, some of whom are supported by the Green Party, which is supporting the Government. The forestry appeals committee has been inundated with objections to most licences, intended to prevent the planting of conifers and block the felling of commercial forests. This is a ridiculous situation and it is extremely unfair to farmers who have planted their land thinking they would be able to sell their thinnings and clear-fell their timber when the time would be right.

Coillte, which supplies an enormous amount of timber to sawmills in Ireland, normally has auctions of timber to keep supplies sustained. Coillte has cancelled at least half a dozen of these already this year and no contracts are secured for next year. All the required permits and paperwork are stuck in this self-made man-made queue. This is a major disaster and the promises that Governments, present and past, have made on planting thousands of acres of land every year will be absolute nonsense unless the Taoiseach urgently deals with the crisis of objectors.

It is reported widely that more than 1 million cu. m of timber, which is one third of the sawmills' annual consumption, is tied up in appeals. The timber needed by the economy right now is still in the ground and it is in a two-year queue cycle. We need the Government to amend the Agriculture Appeals Act quickly to give the forestry appeals committee enough resources and the authority to clear this backlog. Hardware merchants throughout the country that rely on sawmills for much of their timber are struggling to bring in timber from overseas, which is escalating costs. Bringing in timber from abroad is ridiculous, as prices have reached record peaks in the US driven by the pandemic crisis, which has resulted in a DIY boom. European producers prefer to service very large lucrative markets in other parts of the world such as China, putting Ireland at the end of the line as to where they wish to provide timber. Instead, we are looking to Russia and Scandinavian countries to try to meet the demand. So much for the Green Party trying to do things right. Where is the environmental sense in us not being able to use our farmers' trees but instead having to go to Russia to bring here the timber we need for our construction industry?

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