Irish Forestry Industry Continue to Wait for Relief in Timber Felling License Crisis

Timber processors, forestland owners, contractors and forestry companies in Ireland have been struggling for the past two year to obtain felling (timber cutting and road access) licenses which has led to both supply and employment problems. This as the markets for sawn timber at home and in the UK are good because of shortages from traditional lumber suppliers. Traolach Layton, forestry manager of GP Wood, the Co Cork-based company with sawmills in Enniskeane and Lissarda, summed the situation up this way, “The felling license crisis has seriously undermined confidence throughout the forestry and forest products sector. Having invested in milling capacity to meet the increasing volumes of logs projected, mills have now been forced to import substantial volumes of logs from Scotland, which is unsustainable.” Timber farmers want action. They want to be able to get a license within four months from a system that respects their rights as forest owners and at a cost that reflects the size of their forest and the scale of the operation. The mismanagement of the current license crisis and the failure of the Department to implement recommendations in the intervening 16 months, makes it clear that an independent project manager is critical to the success of this new plan, the timber farms say.