Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps that he has taken to ensure that sustainable timber is used by public bodies including local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22236/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC, which were transposed into Irish law by regulations made by the Minister for Finance, allow for environmental and social criteria and conditions to be integrated into public procurement procedures. Such criteria and conditions may, therefore, be included in the selection of technical specifications and award criteria, and in contract performance clauses. Accordingly, my Department's publication Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities – the best practice guidance accompanying the Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities – states that: "Materials such as timber used in construction should be obtained from sustainably managed sources".

At EU level, the current emphasis is on ensuring that all timber entering the EU comes from legal sources. To this end, a new EU Regulation will require timber traders operating in the EU for the first time to operate "due diligence" systems as a further barrier to trade in illegal timber. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, who has responsibility in this area, is negotiating this Regulation on behalf of Ireland. The provisions of this Regulation, when adopted, will be reflected in the Green Public Procurement National Action Plan being prepared by my Department, in co-operation with the National Procurement Service in the Office of Public Works, and which will be published for consultation shortly.

Furthermore, the Green Public Procurement National Action Plan will recommend that public authorities verify that the timber they procure is both legal and sustainable. This may be demonstrated through any of the widely-recognised existing commercial certification systems, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC), the Canadian Standards Association scheme (CSA), and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). Under the above-cited EU public procurement directives, any other appropriate form of proof and verification that timber is legal and sustainable must also be accepted.