Minister McConalogue is very familiar with the crisis currently facing the forestry industry having previously served as Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on agriculture, Forest Industries Ireland (FII) has said.

The Ibec representative body that supports over 12,000 jobs in the Irish forestry industry has welcomed the appointment of Minister Charlie McConalogue having previously met him in April of this year to outline the potential of the forestry sector.

Representatives from the €2.3bn industry spread throughout the country have been raising their concerns about the current crisis caused by delays in issuing felling licences.

Current impasse

FII director Mark McAuley said: “We intend to brief the new Minister on the licensing backlog that is damaging the industry and we look forward to working with him to rapidly improve the current licensing and appeals process which threatens the viability of the sector.”

FII warned that the current impasse threatens to cause disruption to the house building sector, the hardware store network and the country's pallet manufacturing sector, which in turn will affect exports.

McAuley continued: "We intend to bring to the Minister's attention the forestry sector’s potential to contribute further to farm incomes and rural job creation while being one of the biggest solutions to the climate change challenge.

“The afforestation programme must be reinvigorated and we will plant the right tree, in the right place, for the right reason.”

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