Vol. 310 No. 7
I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £1,891,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1978, for salaries and expenses in connection with Forestry and for payment of certain grants-in-aid.
It is rather unfortunate that forestry is tied in with fisheries as a Ministry and as a Department because forestry merits separate attention. There is hardly any sphere of development in which we have had such a colossal increase in output and that colossal increase will continue over the next 20 years. In reply to some questions recently the Minister told us the output from State forests will be immense by 1998 and away beyond the capacity of our present timber processing plants. I would like the Minister to let us know what plans he has to absorb this fantastic production. We have a colossal amount of timber coming on stream and we do not seem to have the facilities to process it. Due to dumping by a number of east European and Scandinavian countries our timber industry is unfortunately depressed, particularly the processing sector, and we depend on the processing sector for a really viable industry. If the outlets are not available it is not much good producing the raw material.
Under subhead C4, we see that £680,000 will be provided to assist the Irish Board Mills in Athy. It is a sad state of affairs when we have a raw material in such abundance that the industries involved in processing it should be in such financial difficulty. I am aware there are four processing industries. As well as the one in Athy there is one in Scariff, one in Clondalkin and one in Waterford. From time to time two, if not all three, have been in financial difficulties. I know Munster Chipboard has been helped considerably by Fóir Teoranta in recent years. It is a sad reflection that this should be the evolution. What are the Minister's views on the situation? Is it solely due to dumping by east European and Scandinavian countries or are there other factors involved? Has the Minister's Department plans for the setting up of the most logical type of processing industry, namely, a chemical pulp mill? In reply to a question recently, the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy told us that to provide such a mill would involve capital in excess of £100 million. That seems an incredible figure for a timber processing project. Obviously we are importing tens of millions of pounds worth of items such as newsprint which we should be able to provide ourselves at home. This is an obvious outlet for our vast forestry produce which will be coming on stream in the next couple of years.
Can the Minister tell us if we will be able to maintain existing planting schedules? Last year on this Estimate he gave a figure of 25,000 acres annually of new forests. This does not now seem such a likely proposition in view of the increased value of land and the fact that it is increasingly difficult to get land for afforestation—people are inclined to hold on to land at all costs, and if it is not of good quality, to reclaim it. I find it difficult to see how the figure the Minister gave last year will be maintained, and I hope the Minister will tell us of the Department's plans for the future.
There are very few sectors where there could be such a number of new jobs provided as in the forestry line and in timber processing and we should have a vast increase in the numbers employed in this sector in the years ahead. What plans has the Minister for the creation of more jobs? We will be only too glad to give any advice we have to give and to listen to his views.
I welcome the Supplementary Estimate which represents an increase of 14 per cent on the original. It is important to bear in mind that as far as Government investment is concerned, forestry has been neglected during the years. Between 1971 and 1978, on average, Government spending in all Departments was increased by 359 per cent, whereas the amount of the increase in the provision for forestry was only one-third of that amount, 137 per cent. Clearly, as far as Government investment is concerned forestry has been lagging behind. I am glad to see that in a small way this Estimate redresses that imbalance.
I note that the Minister has failed to spend 11 per cent of the amount provided for forestry education in the original Estimate. Why was all the money not spent? He has failed to spend £50,000, or 21 per cent, of the total amount voted for game management. Why? We would all agree both are areas where it should be relatively easy to spend the full provision. I wonder if some artificial restriction has been imposed in relation to game management and forestry education since the original Estimate was introduced. That seems to be the only explanation.
I welcome the Estimate. Our forests are a credit to the Department and I should like to see more facilities being provided for public access to our forests. I know that the provision of roads and so forth would cost the taxpayers a lot of money but I suggest that we should provide deeper access to our forests.
I should like to know if the Department have any plans such as our EEC colleagues have in regard to fast growing timber. With possible energy problems, are we doing any development work in this respect so that we could meet possible energy needs in the future?
In regard to Deputy Deasy's first point concerning timber processing, consideration of this is essential if we are to utilise the thinnings coming from our forests—this is an essential process from the point of view of proper harvesting of our timber resources. A detailed study has been undertaken by the Department, in conjunction with the IDA, and the report is coming to hand. I have seen it in draft and it will be ready for publication in a matter of weeks. It will set out the various options open to us in regard to timber processing in the future, not just short-term but long-term. As Deputy Deasy said, the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy, Deputy O'Malley, told the Dáil of the very expensive capital investment necessary in regard to thermo-mechanical and chemical processing of timber, which would require very expensive equipment and energy input. We are talking in terms of big money, of around £100 million. We will have to lift our whole timber processing industry out of, if you like, first stage development into a completely new state of development which will require substantial sums of money. We will have to do it if we are properly to utilise the volume of timber we will have coming on stream from 1982 to the end of the century. That is why the study I have referred to was commissioned. That report will be available for public discussion and Government decision in a matter of a month or so.
Our real problem is that in the interim, before we establish such sophisticated processing of our timber products, the plants that we have, mainly in the wallboard and chipboard areas, are having very serious difficulties caused by the importation of such products from Sweden and other third countries into the EEC. We have taken this matter up with the Community with a view to restricting such imports, which are causing difficulties not just in Ireland but in Germany, Belgium, France and in Britain.
This has been causing serious problems for firms such as Munster Chipboard in Waterford, and the firms in Scarriff and Athy. We have tried to help Athy out of it. The problems are very serious and substantial. We have on our plate serious problems affecting existing processing establishments. The Government have put money into Athy to keep the firm going. The factories in Waterford and Scarriff are at the moment under expert management and it is hoped to rationalise production and marketing. The Department and the IDA are in the course of negotiation with certain private enterprise firms at home with a view to some sort of input of investment. There will be action on this front. It is essential, from the forestry point of view alone, to maintain an outlet for our timber.
We also have had discussions with another major firm in that area, the Clondalkin Paper Mills, in recent weeks with a view to ensuring continuity of supplies of timber to them right through next season. An important firm in Aughrim and Arklow in County Wicklow are also big purchasers of timber from the Department. We are seeking to devise a more flexible tendering and selling system to these firms so that we can guarantee them a percentage on quota supplies, so that they can be guaranteed supplies at a specific price, rather than the old-fashioned tendering method that applied in the past but whereby supplies could not be guaranteed on a permanent basis for these firms. They are having a hard look at this whole area of timber processing and where it is unsatisfactory we must consider how the State can move on the matter with a view to ensuring a certain continuity. However, there may be problems in that we may not be able to sustain some of these firms, but we must ensure that overall there are sufficient guaranteed outlets for thinning. A fundamental principle of forestry is to ensure that when timber reaches a mature state it is of a proper quality. It can only be of a proper quality if the necessary thinning has been effected and the thinnings can only be taken if there are outlets for them.
The Minister has not dealt with the question of savings.
I was coming to that. One of the Deputy's questions concerned savings in respect of wild life sanctuaries and he made the point that there was a saving in respect of some of the nature reserves.
There was a saving under subhead G in respect of game management.
That is offset to some degree by the additional provision of £5,000 in respect of the cost of the Wildlife Advisory Council which have been set up under the Wildlife Act.
That accounted for only 10 per cent whereas there was a saving of £50,000.
There was a delay in establishing the Wildlife Advisory Council but the council are under way now as I am sure Deputy Fitzpatrick, who piloted the Act through the Dáil, will be happy to hear. There is an excellent chairman of the council in the person of the Governor of the Bank of Ireland, Mr. William Finlay. The council are very representative. They are now coming forward with proposals that will more than absorb what Deputy Bruton is talking about and also what I shall be providing in the Estimate for the coming year. Therefore, the situation will level off.
There is not much point in talking about the money for this year. That has been spent.
The point I am making is that in the coming year there will be provision for making use of whatever that money will be devoted to. We will have a very high level of activity because of the Wildlife Advisory Council. At present we are recruiting new rangers, of whom we hope to appoint between 60 and 70 before January or February. These additional personnel will be an excellent asset in providing an essential protection service for wildlife and also in enabling the enforcement of the Wildlife Act which covers the whole area to which the Deputy has referred—game sanctuaries, management, habitats and so on. Therefore, the Deputy can be assured that the moneys will be expended to the degree required.
I asked also about forestry education since there was failure to spend all the money provided for this purpose.
As I do not have available to me now particulars of the situation in that regard, I shall look into the matter and write to the Deputy about it.
Perhaps the Minister would write also to the spokesman as this is a matter for which there should be public accountability and since it is a very important matter.
I agree. Regarding the game management side, the Deputy may be assured that it is a question of full steam ahead. The whole process of recruiting is under way and in the coming year there will be spent under this very necessary heading as much money as was envisaged last year and a lot more than was expended this year.
