Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

If I have to be less calm, I can be but certainly, I wish to reassure all the Deputies that this is being taken highly seriously. As I said, since taking up this role this issue has been on my desk and has been spoken about in my Department every single day. Progress, despite what people might think, is being made. This time last year, the crisis on the table was a supply of timber into the sawmills, where there was a deadlock in the appeals system. That was the legislation that I brought in this time last year. It only related to the appeals and had nothing else in respect of forestry licensing. It was to deal with the appeals and it dealt with them swiftly and effectively and we are in a situation now where we do not have a backlog in respect of the appeals. I accept that we have backlogs in other aspects but the situation for the sawmills is not as it was this time last year. There is a fairly steady supply of timber into the sawmills at the moment and that has been the case.

I accept what a number of Deputies have mentioned about importation. Ireland has always imported timber, albeit not as much as we have in the past number of months. I understand, however, that that level has dropped off as the domestic supply has increased. We are a timber exporting nation. We import and process here and we re-export. That is the business we are in, whereby we are a net exporter of our timber products.

There is a lot of hyperbole and strong language used and it is unfair to the wider sector to speak of it as one that is on its knees and collapsing. It is not on its knees. I accept there are issues with afforestation and that there are individual issues with licences for felling, thinning, for roads and so on. Afforestation is a matter of great importance which we have to get right. It is a priority. As I indicated, we have moved resources into afforestation to drive that on.

I come back to the fact that there are 5,700 ha of afforested, licensed land at this moment ready for planting. Whether it is a lack of confidence or whether people have changed their minds, we need to understand why people changed their minds and why they do not want to plant. It has been the case for years and years-----

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