Sawmills in Co. Laois are being “forced to import timber” as the forestry logjam continues to bite, according to Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley.
Commenting on the matter today (Thursday, July 29), the Laois-Offaly TD stressed that the “current difficulties in the timber industry cannot be allowed to continue any longer”.
In a statement on the matter, he said:
“Last week I visited Mountrath and Coolrain Sawmills along with Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture and forestry, to discuss with management the problems they are experiencing regarding timber supplies.”
The two TDs met with the owner of Mountrath and Coolrain Mills, Mark Sheeran, and the manager of Coolrain Mill, Declan Hutchinson.
Highlighting the importance of the timber industry to the Laois/Offaly region, deputy Stanley said:
“Unfortunately the industry is experiencing huge problems at the moment with timber supplies.
“We have the ridiculous situation where timber that is ready to be cut in the Sliabh Blooms area, just up the road from the sawmill, cannot be harvested. This is forcing a situation where some of the supplies at the local sawmills have to be imported from Scotland.”
The midlands TD highlighted the difficulties being experienced by farmers seeking permission to plant trees, adding that the “situation is even more difficult regarding harvesting licences”.
“The process of obtaining permission to plant and felling licences is over bureaucratic. There are in the region of 5,000 felling licences held up in the system,” he claimed.
Noting that some licences have been in the system for a long time, the former Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson said:
“We have one case in the constituency where a man is waiting almost three years for a licence to harvest 20ac of trees.”
The TD warned that this has led to a situation where potential growers and farmers are “reluctant to get involved in forestry schemes”.
“If the current situation is not addressed without delay it poses potential risk to jobs and restricts the industry from expanding. This is also leading to difficulties with supplies of timber to the construction sector and increasing the price of raw material.’’
Turning to possible solutions to alleviate the issue, deputy Stanley said:
“Sinn Féin is supporting the proposals from the all party Dáil committee to streamline the process. At present, three sets of permissions are required and involves three separate processes for planting, thinning and the harvesting and permission to construct access roads to forestries.
“There needs to be one single streamlined process right through from planting to harvesting so as to give certainty to growers and to simplify the application.
“The working groups established by the government are little more than talking shops and is just further delaying matters.”