I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £232,160 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1948, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Forestry (No. 13 of 1946), including certain Grants-in-Aid.
In presenting the Estimates last year I stated that I had hoped to be able to announce that difficulties affecting planting programmes during the war years had been overcome. Unfortunately, I cannot yet say so. Although the supply position has improved a little, we are still unable to obtain adequate supplies of rabbit netting, or any definite assurance of sufficient supplies for next winter. The lack of netting and the unprecedented weather conditions of last year have combined to reduce planting for the 1946-47 season and it seems unlikely that the total planting for the year will exceed 2,500 acres. That figure is less than in any of the war years or, in fact, than in any of the past 20 years.
The position in regard to tools and barbed wire has improved considerably and I do not anticipate any difficulty in securing adequate supplies of these in the future. The supply of seed is also improving slowly and it is to be hoped that by next autumn there will be no difficulty in obtaining full requirements of all species. The most serious hindrance to an expanded programme of planting is still the shortage of rabbit netting. Some small quantities are being secured from various sources and we are continuing inquiries in every likely quarter. Unless an unforeseen improvement occurs, the outlook for next winter's planting programme is not hopeful. We have no proper substitute for rabbit netting, and its use is indispensable for practically all our plantings.
This year we have been able to import from America, Spain and Great Britain about 458 lbs. of seed of Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, Scots pine, silver fir and pinus contorta. We have on order and are expecting delivery of about 860 lbs. of seed of larch, Norway spruce, Corsican pine, Douglas fir, etc., from Great Britain, Denmark, America and Switzerland. These purchases have been supplemented by the collection at home of 8,706 lbs. of seed of various species, including a considerable proportion of oak, ash and beech. Some of the home-collected seed is already sown in the nurseries and some has still to be extracted from the cones in the Department's seed kilns.
During the past year the main operations undertaken, apart from planting, were road-making and the thinning of plantations. These thinnings have made available for sale considerable numbers of poles, for which a ready market has been found as telegraph poles, electricity transmission poles, poles for the making of temporary corduroy roads, bean stakes and fencing-posts. A new feature is the development of sales of scaffolding poles to builders, from whom large orders have been received during the year.
In view of the harvesting crisis last autumn, the maximum number of forestry labourers whose services could be spared without risk of serious losses in the forests was released to undertake harvesting operations. In all, the services of 1,404 men were made available to farmers. They worked an average of 13,665 days and their wages were paid by the State. My Department has received many expressions of appreciation and gratitude for the help given by these labourers and also by labourers lent by the Land Commission. The contributions made by them to the saving of the harvest were invaluable.
The fuel crisis of the spring also rendered special steps necessary to put as much firewood as possible on the market, in addition to the Department's normal sales of logs and blocks. Supplementary felling operations were put in hands at over 80 different centres. In all about 40,000 tons of firewood were procured in a very short period and despite appalling weather conditions. Most of the material was sold locally in small quantities. The forestry division is in touch with the Department of Industry and Commerce as to the best method of disposing of any bulk supplies that may be accumulated at centres where the demand in the immediate locality is not sufficient to absorb the output.
Turning to the individual sub-heads as set out in the printed Estimates, I propose to refer only to those which show appreciable differences from last year's figures or which otherwise seem to call for special comment.
Sub-head A—Salaries, Wages and Allowances, £80,844. The increased provision is due to increased salaries and wages and to a change in the form of the Estimates. The provisions for the wages and allowances of foresters and foremen have been transferred to this sub-head from sub-head C (2) to which they were formerly charged. This change brings under one heading the cost of administrative and supervisory charges. The direct costs of establishing and maintaining forests are now shown exclusively under sub-head C (2). A similar change has been made in sub-head B under which provision is now made for the travelling expenses of both the headquarters and field staff.
Sub-head C (1)—Acquisition of Land —Grant-in-Aid, £25,000. The provision under this head has been maintained at the same figure as last year. A balance of about £35,000 has been carried over from last year in the Land Acquisition Fund which, with the provision now asked for, will make available for land acquisition during the current year a sum of approximately £60,000. During the last financial year the forestry division acquired a total of about 5,300 acres of land and entered into commitments for the purchase of 8,667 acres from private landowners at a cost of £16,670 and of 789 acres from the Land Commission at a cost of £2,768. In addition, negotiations have reached an advanced stage for the purchase of 6,730 acres from private owners at a cost of £30,047. Negotiations are also in progress with the Land Commission for the purchase of about 6,120 acres at a cost of £21,468.
An Ceann Comhairle resumed the Chair.
Sub-head C—Maintenance and Cultural Operations, etc., £246,215. The provision under this head shows an increase of nearly £10,000 over the amount provided last year allowing for the transfer of the cost of foresters and foremen's wages to sub-head A as already explained. The increase is due mainly to a rise in labourers' wages as compared with the rate prevailing at the beginning of the last financial year. Otherwise, there is no notable difference. I have already mentioned that there is not as yet any definite indication that supplies of rabbit netting will come to hand in sufficient quantities to enable an increased planting programme to be undertaken so that no provision has been made for such an increase. If supplies do arrive in time I shall have to come back to the Dáil for any additional money that may be necessary to carry out the largest planting programme that can be undertaken with the stocks of plants on hands or which may be procurable from any source.
The thinning of plantations will represent a considerable proportion of the year's programme of work. I have stressed in former years the vital necessity for this work in the interests of the plantations themselves. Fortunately up to the present there has been no difficulty in disposing of the produce of these thinnings in one form or another but continuance of this favourable position is dependent upon the scarcity or high price of other forms of fencing materials, scaffolding, etc., and in more normal times it may not be easy to find remunerative markets for all the thinnings that must be taken out for sylvicultural reasons.
The building up of increased nursery stocks with a view to extended planting operations in later years is being continued.
During the past year 16 portable cross-cutting outfits have been in operation for the preparation of firewood blocks. In the main the output has been sold in one or two cord lots to persons living in the neighbourhood of the forests where the machines were operating. It is proposed to continue the preparation of firewood in this form for local consumption but some change may be made in the method of disposing of bulk lots where such can be built up in the absence of a sufficient local demand. In past years these bulk lots have been sold by public advertisement but this year they may have to be handed over to Fuel Importers with a view to assisting in building up reserve stocks of fuel in the non-turf areas.
Sub-head D—Grants for Afforestation, £2,000. Applications for these grants are increasing in number. As a consequence it has been necessary to ask for a provision under this heading of twice the amount provided last year. State planting operations, no matter how extensive, can never replace or supplement, for the purpose of shelter and ornament, the smaller woodlands, shelter belts and groves on private lands. With the abnormal felling of trees for fuel which has been forced upon the country by present circumstances I greatly fear and deplore that the appearance of the countryside in many districts will be detrimentally affected. I hope, therefore, to see a continued increase in the demand for these grants. It should not be necessary for me, in view of the growing evidence of the value of timber of all descriptions, to stress the obvious advantages to be gained by the planting up of every possible acre of available land. An assurance for the individual owner of reserve stocks for fencing and fuel and so on ought to be sufficiently attractive.
I am at the moment having examined in my Department the desirability of planting considerable tracts of waste and inferior lands where it would clearly not be possible to grow good commercial timber but where it may be possible to grow firewood and second and third rate timber. Such a process would, in its initial stages, be unprofitable and uneconomic but it might be a wiser policy to tolerate loss rather than waste. Indeed the main justification for planting large areas of waste lands that may now be available for inferior timber growth would be the creation, as a result of planting, of a suitable forest condition for subsequent crops.
Sub-head H—Appropriations-in-Aid —£56,642. A slight fall in the revenue from the State Forests is anticipated this year and might well be much greater but for the additional fellings of firewood. The stocks of commercial quality timber in the forests have been so reduced by seven years of accelerated fellings that not much more remains. Provision must be made for the Department's own needs of timber for the repair of houses on the State lands, the building of new houses where necessary, and other requirements.
During the past year large lots of timber comprising a total of about 30,653 trees, and 186,297 cubic feet of blown timber or logs, were sold. In addition smaller lots comprising 1,600 standing trees and 25,000 cubic feet of logs were sold. Pitprops running to over 30,000 poles were put on the market during the year and sold by public advertisement, and mixed lots of poles and firewood were sold by auction.
Forestry Act—Following the normal trend the number of felling notices received during the early part of the year showed a tendency to fall below the figures for the preceding years. The fuel crisis of last winter altered the whole position and so many felling notices came to be dealt with that extra staff had to be provided to cope with them.
My Department has been urged on all sides to withdraw all restrictions on the felling of trees for firewood in view of the present scarcity of fuel. That cannot be done. I am obliged, as far as possible, to preserve and promote the timber resources of the country and to ensure the retention of trees for shelter and ornament. In co-operation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce I am also obliged to assist the nation's timber-working industries and no Minister, in my position, could permit the indiscriminate felling which would follow upon the removal or suspension of all tree-felling restrictions. Every effort is being made to see that no unnecessary obstacle is put in the way of people honestly requiring to fell their own trees for firewood. No undue delay occurs in giving them the necessary permission. Under the provisions of the Forestry Act 21 days' notice of intention to fell is normally required, but in the majority of cases the local Gardaí are being informed within a day or two of receipt of the notices that no objection will be made to the felling and they are being requested to notify the applicants accordingly so that urgent needs for fuel may be met without delay. In cases in which large numbers of trees are concerned, or special features seem to require attention, inspections are being carried out by the district forestry inspectors as quickly as possible.
I hope these remarks of mine will dispel the impression which seems to exist in many parts of the country that the word "firewood" is a sufficient excuse for any tree felling and for the ignoring of restrictions imposed solely in the best interests of the community. My Department is willing to consider any representations honestly made and to see that no unnecessary hardship is inflicted upon any individual who wishes to fell a few firewood trees for his own or his neighbour's use, but I will have no hesitation in ordering prosecution in cases where an attempt is made to take undue advantage of the present situation or to escape replanting obligations. It will take another generation to repair the damage done by excessive tree felling. To denude our farms of tree shelter will inevitably result in diminishing returns from crops and live stock.
It has not yet been possible to put into operation the Forestry Act of last year and actively to take up the question of enforcing the replanting conditions imposed in felling licences. I have explained in previous years that I was satisfied that while some persons had managed to carry out their obligations the shortage of plants and fencing materials made it impossible for the majority to do so. I hope that the persons concerned will make a reasonable effort to carry out the terms of their licences and not force me to resort to prosecution. Failure to carry out replanting conditions is a continuing offence and will not be purged by payment of a fine.
