Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not take the full five minutes in order to accommodate everyone. I welcome the Minister of State into what is her Chamber and the Chamber of the rest of us. It is good for politics that we have one of our own sitting at the Cabinet table. It is long overdue and already the Minister of State is doing a fantastic job.

One of the first Bills to come before us in this new Seanad is an important one. I would agree with lot of the arguments and articulations that have been expressed here today. The forestry industry has been the poor relation to a large extent over the years, and that is probably the reason we find ourselves in the situation we are in, where the legislation has not been updated and upgraded in the way it should have been. This is having direct and immediate consequences, not just for people who are trying to plant or benefit from getting the right crop but also for the industry. I was speaking to a builder's providers in Clare over the weekend and it is importing timber from Sweden, which is shocking when we have the raw material here.

There are two phases to this. The first is the legislation that we are dealing with today, which is critical and necessary. It is rushed but sometimes legislation has to be rushed in the national interest and this is one of those occasions. The second phase is the review the Minister of State has spoken about. That review has to be root and branch, if Members will pardon the pun. It has to be comprehensive and detailed and it has to reflect the industry in the modern world. The timber industry and the growing of trees will be part of our being and landscape going forward. It has to be done in an appropriate way, taking into consideration both the worries and aspirations of people. I look forward to that review and I have no doubt that this House will participate fully in same.