The departmental forestry licensing backlog has caused “major concern” for stock supply for those in the timber business, according to a Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine travel report published this month.
Members of the joint committee reflected on a visit to Murray’s timber group and Coillte forest park in Co. Galway.
The sawmill and forest park visit was attended by chair of the committee, Jackie Cahill; Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice; Deputy Claire Kerrane and Senator Paul Daly.
The visit commenced with a tour of the sawmill where the delegation was shown around the site.
While the business stated that it is performing well in production, the plant is currently facing challenges such as staffing issues and stock supply.
The group highlighted difficulty with retaining staff is mainly due to the “strenuous and intensive nature” of the work involved to keep the facility operational on a 24-hour basis.
The timber group said that the impact of Brexit and the forestry licensing backlog from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has caused this “major concern” for supply and increase in the need to import.
Occasionally, the business would run out of Irish logs and have to import from Scotland to stay operational.
The representatives of Murray’s timber group said that they believe the process relating to issuing thinning forestry licenses should be “withdrawn”.
They said that the process is “slowing down” the issuing of felling forestry licenses.
Forestry licensing
Representatives from Coillte joined the delegation for its visit to Murray’s Coillte park.
The Coillte representatives said that the requirement to apply for various types of forestry licenses and the failure to meet afforestation targets would increase the need to import timber.
The delegation heard that while Coillte’s strategy of redesign, rewetting and rewilding has succeeded in introducing native species back into the forest, the deer population has hindered the progress.
Coillte informed the delegation that deer have been “destroying” newly planted trees.
While measures have been put in place to prevent the deer from getting into the nurseries, the representatives told the delegation that culling the number of deer in an organised fashion would be the best solution.
Coillte suggested that a national culling programme should be evaluated, and if such a programme was implemented, it could help the forests to thrive.
The delegation said it found the visit to be “an insightful and educational trip”.
The visit formed part of the committee’s “pursuit of deeper knowledge and understanding” in the field of ‘Forestry Policy and Strategy’.