The Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) has called for a change in the payment system for forestry contractors.

Following Storm Éowyn, the FCI engaged with other European forestry contractor groups through its membership of the European Confederation of Agricultural, Rural and Forestry Contractors (CEETTAR).

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has estimated that 23,600ha of forest have been severely damaged by the storm.

The FCI said that an agreement has been reached whereby European contractors would come to Ireland to help with the "harvesting challenge".

They will carry out the work as sub-contractors to Irish FCI forestry contractors.

However, the FCI said the arrival of the supporting forestry contactors has been delayed by a number of factors, including "the lack of a fair and transparent payment system similar to what is paid to forestry contractors across Europe".

Ann Gleeson Hanrahan, managing director of FCI, welcomed Minister of State for Forestry Michael Healy-Rae's decision to include forestry contractors in the Forest Windblow Taskforce.

“Forestry contractors, who are vital in ensuring timber mobilisation, will through FCI provide a central voice at the taskforce to represent the interests of timber harvesting and haulage contractors,” she said.

FCI members are currently reporting 30% to 40% lower harvesting output in windblown sites compared with regular forest harvest situations.

Harvesting costs are also higher and work output slower due to the need for greater numbers of chainsaw operators on the ground.

While the taskforce and Minister Healy-Rae have limited control over the pricing structure, the FCI is calling for the payment to forestry contractors to be based on the cubic metre measured output from the independently calibrated harvester head.

“Contractors from across Europe who have an established payment system based on the cubic metre measured output from the independently calibrated harvester head, cannot consider work in Ireland on any other basis.

“We welcome the minister’s work and dedication with the taskforce to find the solutions to harvesting windblown timber, which must include a fair and transparent system of payment for the forestry contractors,” Gleeson Hanrahan said.

The FCI explained that Ireland differs from the Nordic countries as contractors here are paid according to the dry matter weight of the harvested timber.

"In this sale by weight system, the weight of timber removed is based on records from the weighbridge at the sawmill or processing plant along with an arbitrary dry matter conversion factor.

"With this flawed current payment system many FCI forestry contractors have been forced to pay credits back to the forest companies, resulting in less than 85% recovery rates for the work completed," the association said.

The FCI said that contractors are required to tender much of their timber harvesting work on the basis of a cubic metre machine throughput measured on the harvesting machine head.

“The issues faced by forestry contractors coming from outside Ireland, to meet the huge challenges faced by Irish timber growers in harvesting Storm Éowyn windblown timber, with our unfair and non-transparent payment system, provide a timely opportunity for negotiated forestry contractor work pricing system change through the taskforce," Gleeson Hanrahan said.