Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
14. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of timber felling licences issued in each of the past five years to date; the volume of timber involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60442/21]
View answerI will not delay the House by reading out the question. The supply of timber is vital to the timber industry. The question asks the Minister how we are doing on felling licences. The timber can be standing but unless you can fell it, you cannot get it into the mills. The Minister might provide the information and then I will come back with supplementary questions.
The supply of timber this time last year was a very significant worry for the sector. There was deep concern among sawmills about where their supply would come from. I am pleased to say that in the past 12 months we have worked really hard to make significant improvements in that regard. Each week the Department publishes extensive information on forestry licensing and forestry-related statistics on the weekly forestry dashboard. Unfortunately, I do not have with me the year-by-year figures; I have the overall five-year figures. I will send on the specific details of the year-by-year figures the Deputy has requested. In the past five years, more than 14,000 tree felling licences have issued. My Department commenced compiling its own timber volume data for issued tree felling licences last year, when the 1,700 felling licences issued covered a volume of just over 5 million cu. m. To date this year, to the end of November, more than 7.7 million cu. m of timber has been licensed. That is expected to be about 8 million cu. m by the end of the year. That will be the highest volume of timber ever licensed in a single year and highlights the improvements we have made in the issuing of felling licences in the past 12 months.
Coillte's 2022 felling programme will be fully complete by year end, which again instils confidence in the sawmill sector. Coillte recently completed its contract position to Irish sawmills for 2022, which means that those sawmills enter next year with some certainty around their supply. This was certainly not the case this time last year.
The Central Statistics Office compiles data on actual volumes of timber harvested from forests based on surveys. I have been advised that timber harvested from Irish forests ranges from 3.6 million to 3.9 million cu. m over the period 2017-20. This volume harvested closely relates to the capacity of Ireland's forests to produce timber based on the age of forest crops.
Has the Minister of State any information to hand on what the capacity of the mills we have in the State would be if they all worked at full capacity and whether the supply can be organised in order that it meets that capacity? Interestingly enough, in view of the debate on the previous question, selling to the primary market, which, outside of the State, is obviously the UK market, is not a difficulty. The Minister and I visited a mill at which they said that getting timber through all the formalities was, I think, a 50-second job. That is good news. This is therefore not a problem of Brexit; it is a problem with getting the supply. Is there or will there be a matching between capacity and the ability of the licensing system to license enough timber, allowing that the producers such as Coillte have enough timber to license?
Certainly, that is the intent. As the years will progress, we know there will be a significant volume of timber to come onto the market. We have to match our licensing capabilities with that to be able to deliver that. We sometimes hear the discussion of Coillte felling licences versus the private side. As a note for this year, Coillte tends to submit its felling licences in batches, whereas private individuals submit them daily, one or two at a time, perhaps. In March Coillte submitted more than 1,800 applications and in November a further 430 applications were received. Those were the two batches. Private felling licences are submitted daily but on the breakdown of the total licences that have been issued in the year to date, 1,200 private licences have been issued versus 1,378 licences to Coillte, which is a 47%-53% split.
Bearing in mind that Coillte is the largest supplier of timber to our sawmill sector, I think there is a little bit of fairness there in terms of the number of licences.
I ask the Minister of State to put on the record of the House the value of exports of processed timber to this country every year and the total number of people employed in the timber industry, including those working in felling, production and sawmills. It is important to put on the record the value of this industry to Ireland.
I do not have the specific figures to hand. We are a massive net exporter of timber products. I think we export 90% of what we produce in Ireland. That is a credit to the sawmill and the wider sector, and the landowners and farmers who grow the trees and produce them. I will get the employment and value figures sent on to the Deputy.
