The private forestry sector united in protest today (Wednesday, October 3) to demand greater intervention from government to help solve the ongoing “crisis” in the sector.

About 100 members of the Social, Economic, Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) gathered outside government buildings to call on the Department of the Taoiseach to intervene as “all other options have failed”.

“With over 1,000 afforestation applications and thousands of felling and road-licence applications still awaiting a decision from government, SEEFA is highlighting the severe social, economic and environmental impact of this crisis,” the organisation said in a statement.

Members of SEEFA protesting outside government buildings. Image source: Finbarr O’Rourke

Government delays in granting licences is forcing imports of timber – while Irish trees cannot be planted or felled – and threatening 12,000 industry jobs, SEEFA has said.

SEEFA’s three core issues are:
  1. Social:
    The lack of licences means that there is no planting or harvesting taking place, greatly impacting jobs within the industry;
  2. Economic:
    House prices continue to be inflated due to the importation of timber, which is a result of a lack of licences;
  3. Environmental:
    Due to insufficient planting of trees in the past five years, 5.4 million tonnes of carbon will not be captured.

SEEFA solutions

SEEFA members met with a number of government TDs this week to outline the sector’s problems and propose a number of solutions.

Members of SEEFA protesting outside government buildings. Image source: Finbarr O’Rourke

They are calling for five solutions to be implemented without delay:

  1. Full implementation of the MacKinnon report in a defined timeframe, with immediate implementation of the environmental planning proposal;
  2. Maximum timelines must be introduced for every application in a functioning licensing system;
  3. Full integration of afforestation into the next Common Agricultural Policy;
  4. The creation of a forestry development agency to promote and represent the sector. Forestry is currently the only natural resource sector without such an agency;
  5. Political support allied to leadership in the forest service, which is essential to achieve climate-change targets and to support existing challenges for forest owners.

Meanwhile, as the SEEFA protest was getting underway, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Pippa Hackett, who has responsibility for forestry, issued a statement.

In it, the minister said that 2021 will see the “highest ever volume of timber licenced for harvest”.

However, she added that she is aware that an “urgent uplift” in afforestation licences is needed.

“My department will soon be producing its projections for licencing for the first half of 2022,” the minister said.

FORESTRY