The need to "broaden" the range of land that is suitable and available for planting trees was one of the key messages highlighted by Minister Michael Healy-Rae at Coillte's Build with Wood conference today (Wednesday, October 15).

The Minister of State for forestry, farm safety and horticulture also called for reducing the imports of timber into this country and instead recommended a more sustainable approach of growing more trees on available Irish land, such as peaty soils.

Speaking at the conference, Minister Healy-Rae said: "Growing trees for timber requires a collective effort; we need our nurseries, land owners and foresters working together and pulling in the same direction.

"By fostering greater use of wood in construction, we have an opportunity to both contribute to solving Ireland’s housing crisis, and to do it in a more sustainable way."

Conference

The conference was hosted by Coillte in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

A major announcement made by DAFM at the event was its plans to establish a Timber Knowledge Development and Innovation facility.

According to DAFM, this facility will be co-funded with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and coordinated by Enterprise Ireland, with the aim "to drive expertise, research, and innovation in the use of timber across the construction sector".

The conference also showcased the work to date on a project Coillte is collaborating on with South Dublin County Council, which aims to construct 27 age-friendly homes using low carbon homegrown timber from Ireland’s forests.

According to Coillte, the project has the "potential to become a model for local authority developments across the country, with the key learnings around the use of homegrown timber to drive maximum sustainability benefit."

Commenting on the project, Coillte CEO Imelda Hurley said: "I congratulate South Dublin County Council on progressing this innovative housing project which demonstrates that using sustainably grown Irish timber is a viable solution in housing delivery."

She added: "In the three years since this conference was established, we have moved from spotlighting the opportunity for Ireland to scale up timber in construction, to collaboration between government and industry, and today, to moving the debate from policy to practice."