Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 March 2023
349. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the percentage of firewood felled that was exported in 2022; and if felling licences include a provision regarding destination of product. [15908/23]
View answerThe Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's felling licences do not include provisions regarding the ultimate destination of wood products. My Department does not collate the amount of wood removals nationally and this role is now carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The CSO provides a range of forestry statistics on their website and in 2021 reported that 209,000 cubic metres was removed from Irish forests and categorised as fuelwood. However this figure is not broken down by country of export.
My Department does not have any role in deciding on what wood products are exported as it is determined by the markets. However, there is no shortage of wood material available to harvest. Ireland's forests have the capacity to produce 4 million cubic metres of roundwood each year and this supply will increase to over 6 million cubic metres by 2030.
My Department also provides financial assistance to the Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Scheme (WFQA) which is an all-island scheme established to increase consumer confidence in wood fuel products sold in Ireland. Forest owners and forestry contractors, through sustainable forest management practices, produce renewable fuels such as firewood, wood chip, wood pellets, and wood briquettes. As the Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Scheme continues to grow, members will provide consumers with a greater degree of confidence in providing quality certified wood fuel products available in Ireland. You may find suppliers of quality fuel wood on the following dedicated website of WFQA
www.wfqa.org/firewood-suppliers-in-ireland.html
