Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this issue. I seek the introduction of regulations requiring that all timber used in Government, semi-State and local authority procurement contracts is sourced from certifiably sustainable timber producers. Both deforestation and illegal logging are having a major impact on climate change. While forests used to cover half the planet's land area, they now only cover 30% and this figure reduces annually. Some countries in particular are suffering heavily. In the last century, the forested area of Ghana, Africa, dwindled from 8 million hectares, which is approximately the size of Ireland, to 1.2 million hectares, which is slightly bigger than County Cork. As a result, one of the key ways to eat up carbon dioxide across the world is being lost. It is estimated that deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which constitutes a greater quantity of emissions than are produced by the transport sector.

Some countries in particular are experiencing significant amounts of illegal logging. In Bolivia, Peru and Cambodia, more than 80% of logging is illegal, which means there is a loss of Government revenue in respect of unpaid taxes at a local level. It is estimated that globally, approximately one quarter of imports from six key countries could be illegal. Given that Ireland is providing aid to many developing countries to improve the manner in which they manage their timber, it makes no sense if, at the same time, we import large amounts of illegal timber. This problem is being tackled in other countries. For instance, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Denmark all have introduced public procurement policies specifying that only certified timber may be used.

We in Ireland are part of the problem. The Irish Government is the biggest purchaser of illegal timber products in the country and probably accounts for up to 20% of the timber used here. However, minor changes in regulations can have a big impact in practice. Were central Departments to purchase wood products that are known to be legal, not only would it set a good example to others, it also would reduce the scale of illegal imports. There are two ways in which one can verify that timber has been sourced legally, namely, forest certification schemes and voluntary partnership agreements. The Dutch and the British have undertaken market research studies on the impact of their changes to their public procurement policies and the studies from both countries showed that certified timber product imports have grown steadily and now account for approximately 50% of the timber on the market there. Moreover, experience from other EU countries also suggests no significant additional cost arises as a result of introducing such policies. The Government has been challenged previously on the use of illegal timber in a number of high-profile construction projects, including the Irish Aid visitor centre in Dublin. The World Wildlife Fund's annual report on governments suggests that Ireland has the worst record in respect of illegal logging within the European Union. Although the Office of Public Works has a general commitment to use sustainable timber, we must go further. We should copy the policies introduced by our European partners and I ask the Minister of State to make a statement on this matter.