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  • NEWS
  • Martin wades into abortion debate

    As the Dáil committee hearings continue on the abortion bill, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has waded into the debate saying it is important that Christian believers "be, and seen to be, on the side of life, especially when life is most vulnerable".

  • Payment cuts see families pay rent shortfall

    Limits on rent supplement payments set by the Government are forcing thousands of families to make undeclared top-up payments to landlords to secure places to live.

  • WORLD
  • Anger as North Korea launches another missile

    North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast, a day after launching three more of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said.

  • How Star Trek predicted the future

    WHEN Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first dreamed up the concept of a television show based in the unexplored universe of Outer Space in 1964, the world was a very different place.

  • BUSINESS
  • Warnings over future of eurozone

    The eurozone is heading towards a break up unless there are moves towards much closer political and fiscal union, according to chief economist with State Street Global Advisers, Chris Probyn.

  • Bruton defends corporate tax rate

    Ireland will be able to maintain its current corporation tax code in the face of international pressure to prevent multinational corporations avoid paying their fare share of tax, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton said yesterday.

  • SPORT
  • Mayo’s statement of intent

    Galway 0-11 Mayo 4-16 Five minutes to go in Salthill yesterday and James Horan was still cajoling his men to sew it into Galway.

  • Wilkinson inspires Toulon to glory

    ASM Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16 Not for the first time this season, a matchday performance and the result have made a mockery of the statistics.

  • LIFESTYLE
  • What Lenny did next

    LENNY Abrahamson has directed three feature films: Adam & Paul, Garage and What Richard Did.

  • Clothes maketh you mad

    Trying on clothes, said Ewart, produced "sensations which bring deep peace and perfect contentment" to the female mind.





Where’s the support for forestry?

The Government’s proposal to sell off the harvesting rights of Coillte’s most productive forests for up to 80 years shows a lack of commitment to the forestry sector.

The growth and job potential of our woodlands will not be realised if our political leaders covertly forward-sell the State’s timber harvesting rights to pay government bank debt.

Robbing this wealth from the forestry sector will cause serious damage to the entire Irish timber and wood energy industries, and to the services which our woodlands provide freely to us all. The true value of Irish and global forests has never been acknowledged due to the low “inside-forest-gate” log accounting values, which give no recognition to the added value and jobs sustained in the wood energy and timber processing plants.

Irish forests provide 150 recreational woodlands which had more than 18 million visits last year. Our trees clean the air we breathe and provide vast sanctuaries for our flora and fauna. The devaluation of woodlands contributes to deforestation. It is environmental sabotage.

The State and our politicians have an appalling record in achieving value for money for its citizens, in relation to the selling or leasing of Ireland’s natural resources such as fishing, gas and oil.

Today, saw-log prices are reaching all time highs due to growing global demand for timber and clean wood energy. Our €2 billion-a-year Irish timber industry, employing 16,000 people, can easily double in size as we have a vast underutilised land bank ideally suited to afforestation, combined with a rapid tree growth. EU forest cover is 35% compared with 11% forest cover in Ireland.

It is vital that the Government re-evaluates its forestry policy and adopts a job-positive approach by doubling Ireland’s forest cover, thus creating sustainable employment and contributing to the control of climate change. It will be a rewarding investment for us, and for future generations.

John Jackson
Stranorlar
Co Donegal Home

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