Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am totally opposed to this amendment, purely on the grounds of what I have been hearing from the industry. We have close to 1,000,000 cu. m of forestry tied up in the appeals process at the moment. This legislation is about trying to get a large volume of that timber out very quickly. The applications, which are more than 500 in number, involve everything from roadways to smallholdings to large holdings. The industry and the people I have been talking to, particularly in west Cork, need to have actual product. They are going to start importing from Scotland in the next few weeks. As such, unless we can get out of the way and ensure that we can get large licences approved whereby large amounts of product can be felled in a short period, the jobs I am talking about in west Cork will be lost. These jobs are in Grainger Sawmills, where 500 people will be moving to a four-day week from 1 October. That will then go to a three-day week and to a two-day week and we will have a decimated part of rural Ireland because we will not have an industry going.It is a practical part of this Bill. It is there to protect the jobs in rural Ireland that need to have this protection put in place because, unfortunately, the product is not there to keep those jobs going. I am against the amendment. I have been talking to many families this morning and they spoke about this amendment in particular because there is genuine concern that this amendment could have an unfortunate knock-on effect that the livelihoods I am trying to protect tonight might not survive. That is why I am making this plea on this amendment.