This morning/afternoon.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Members of the Social, Economic, Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) protesting against Government delays in granting licences, which SEEFA say, is forcing imports of timber while Irish trees cannot be planted or felled and threatening 12,000 industry jobs
‘Time for change’ – SEEFA stages protest in bid to save forestry sector (Agriland)
This afternoon.
The Coinvention Centre, Dublin
Forestry owners hold a protest outside the Convention Centre where the Dáil is sitting over a bureaucratic backlog which has rendered Ireland reduced to importing extra timber from the UK and Europe and left 6,000 forestry owners without a licence.
They literally can’t see the woods from their trees.
IFA President Tim Cullinan said:
“Farmers are being denied the right to manage their forests. They planted their land with the legitimate expectation that they would be able to thin and realise an income during its rotation, but the delays mean that this is no longer a reality for many,”
“This is jeopardising the entire industry, from nurseries to sawmilling, with hundreds of jobs already lost. The increased volume of imported timber is placing the health of the forest estate at unnecessary risk.
Not to mention the economic burden on forest owners who cannot release the equity in their forests or who are watching the value of their timber crop decrease by over €10,000/ha if they cannot get a licence to thin.”
Farmers protest over backlog of 6,000 forestry licences (Independent.ie)
