Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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179. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will ensure that the Council for Forest Research and Development carries out a comprehensive overview of wood processing in Ireland in order that the industry can track annual performances with timber forecasts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6991/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The COFORD Council is a stakeholder platform to advise my Department on issues related to the development of the forest sector in Ireland. The existing Council sets its own priorities and has a number of working groups which provide advice on a wide range of areas including climate change, forest genetics resources, ecosystem services and timber forecasting.

The COFORD Wood Mobilisation and Wood Forecasting Group during this Council term was tasked with projecting timber production from 2021 out to 2040. This forecast is now complete which projects that the annual potential roundwood supply will increase from 4.5 million cubic metres in 2022 to over 6 million cubic metres in 2030. This is a significant increase in timber production and will provide many opportunities for forest owners in the sale of timber.

The Central Statistic Office has started collecting information on the amount of wood harvested and removed from Irish forest and published figures for the first time in 2021. They will continue to collect statistics in relation timber harvested and will publish annual returns.

My Department and the COFORD Council working group will monitor closely the potential volume of timber forecasted and compare it to the volume of timber actually removed from Irish forests. This tracking is important to ensure that the licences issued are at the required level to ensure timber is harvested in line with the forecast. The CSO estimated that in 2020 there were approximately 3.91 million cubic metres of timber removed from Irish forests which matches the COFORD projected forecast for the same year. Figures are not yet available for 2021. This demonstrates that timber is being harvested at a sustainable rate nationally. My Department will continue to track volumes removed against the projected forecast which is important for forest owners and the forest industry.