The national forestry program is "effectively dead" at the moment as a result of the failure to provide licenses, director of Forest Industries Ireland (FII) Mark McAuley has said.
Speaking on Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show on Tuesday morning, McAuley has warned that just 50 forestry licensing appeals will be resolved in November, calling for this number to be doubled to ensure sustainability in the sector.
“The industry has been living in this licensing horror story for the past 18 months. Thousands of licenses are held up in the Department of Agriculture while hundreds are held up in the appeals committee,” McAuley said.
“The Forest Act has been introduced and we welcome cross party support, but we're not seeing the implementation on the ground. Our saw mills still don't have the timber that they need and they can't deliver to their markets.”
Below target
The FII has said planting is currently running at just 25% of the target outlined in the Programme for Government, with just 2,000 hectares to be planted this year.
McAuley continued: “There's companies up and down the country who do this planting work and they've all had to lay off people while young saplings are destroyed with no place to go. The whole concept of forestry in Ireland is on its knees.
“The licensing issue is an operational matter, you would imagine in any other jurisdiction there wouldn't be this sort of issue. It's just a failing from the Department to get on top of this.”
Climate battle
The forestry representative body suggests that up to 1m tonnes of timber is tied up in licensing appeals and has called for over 100 appeals to resolved per month going forward.
“Every appeal should be should be given to recognition but at the same time we need to increase output,” McAuley said.
“We're losing in the climate change battle because we need to be planting more trees to offset our carbon emissions. Every major international NGO is talking about planting more trees, it's one of the best ways to combat climate change.”
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The national forestry program is "effectively dead" at the moment as a result of the failure to provide licenses, director of Forest Industries Ireland (FII) Mark McAuley has said.
Speaking on Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show on Tuesday morning, McAuley has warned that just 50 forestry licensing appeals will be resolved in November, calling for this number to be doubled to ensure sustainability in the sector.
“The industry has been living in this licensing horror story for the past 18 months. Thousands of licenses are held up in the Department of Agriculture while hundreds are held up in the appeals committee,” McAuley said.
“The Forest Act has been introduced and we welcome cross party support, but we're not seeing the implementation on the ground. Our saw mills still don't have the timber that they need and they can't deliver to their markets.”
Below target
The FII has said planting is currently running at just 25% of the target outlined in the Programme for Government, with just 2,000 hectares to be planted this year.
McAuley continued: “There's companies up and down the country who do this planting work and they've all had to lay off people while young saplings are destroyed with no place to go. The whole concept of forestry in Ireland is on its knees.
“The licensing issue is an operational matter, you would imagine in any other jurisdiction there wouldn't be this sort of issue. It's just a failing from the Department to get on top of this.”
Climate battle
The forestry representative body suggests that up to 1m tonnes of timber is tied up in licensing appeals and has called for over 100 appeals to resolved per month going forward.
“Every appeal should be should be given to recognition but at the same time we need to increase output,” McAuley said.
“We're losing in the climate change battle because we need to be planting more trees to offset our carbon emissions. Every major international NGO is talking about planting more trees, it's one of the best ways to combat climate change.”
Read more
FII welcomes Minister who is ‘familiar with the crisis’ in forestry
Department central to state of emergency in forestry sector - IFA
Department rejects claims that Irish forests are a net source of C02
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