asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry if he will make a statement on the high volume of timber being imported.
Written Answers. - Timber Imports.
421.
This country's annual sawn softwood requirements are estimated to be of the order of 500,000 cubic metres, some 75 per cent of which is accounted for by the construction industry. At present about 80 per cent of the construction sector's needs are met by imported timber and the balance by home-grown timber. However, it is expected that as the supply of homegrown sawlog increases in the years ahead with the maturing of Irish forests, its share of the construction sector market will increase proportionately. By the early part of the next decade the country should be nominally self-sufficient in sawn softwood and indeed developing an export trade. Of course, the need to import special types of timber which can not be produced in Irish forestry conditions will still continue but earnings from export will serve towards offsetting the cost.