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.