Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

D’éist mé go cúramach leis an díospóireacht go dtí seo. I congratulate the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, on her appointment. I have always felt that, in any system where there are undue delays in making decisions, justice delayed is justice denied. Everybody should have the right to object, but decisions should be made speedily. I know farmers who have been waiting three or four years to fell a small amount of timber that was grown for ecological purposes.

The second point is that the timber industry is very important. As has been said many times in the House today, there are 12,000 people employed. Nationally, we need 3 million cu. m of timber and as a lorry with a trailer contains about 30 cu. m, we can figure out how many truckloads of timber we need. For the commercial sector, the bread and butter, like barley for making beer, is Sitka spruce, which is needed for the timber milling industry. We need to have this debate.

We have to recognise that we have a great climate for growing trees. Trees grow to maturity here in 30 to 35 years whereas it would take 80 years or more in some of the Scandinavian countries. Therefore, we have a competitive advantage, and the timber we grow now, due to modern technology, can be made suitable for the construction industry.

Good work has gone on in the past ten years. I set up Comhairle na Tuaithe and, since then, there has been a great opening up of forests to rural recreation. Coillte has done a great job, using it for both rural recreation and for commercial purposes. However, we need a decision on the felling part of the licence. I cannot understand why people cannot be given permission to fell, subject to agreement on replanting and with the actual details of that to be agreed. If we do not do something very fast, the timber industry will come to a halt.

To give the example of the timber mill near my home, ECC Timber, which is in a very rural area, employs 140 people and 50 to 60 local hauliers draw in timber on a full-time basis. Other local businesses would employ five to ten people who are dependent on the mill, and outside hauliers and harvesters, including in the forest area, would add another 150 to 200 people. In other words, this business is the Intel of north Connemara. To give the Minister of State some idea, the wage bill is €8 million, the contractors are paid €25 million a year, and 20 loads of top-quality timber are exported to Britain every day. When we look at the socioeconomic effect of this in the area in which I live, which is a very rural area, we see the standard of living there is above the national average.

We need this issue dealt with immediately. We then have to look at the proper mix of planting into the future. In the meantime, however, the house is on fire and the mills are ready to stop. We need a release of timber for felling and, as I said, we can agree the planting later.

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