The Oireachtas report called on the Departments of Housing and Agriculture to work on streamlining the current forestry licensing system, which requires separate permits for planting, cutting and building roads to transport timber.
Its report also says that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage should consider revising building regulations to provide clear and consistent guides to using timber safely in construction. During the hearings that led to the report, the Office of Public Works , which is responsible for all Government buildings, noted that forestry was a key way of cutting carbon in the atmosphere. The OPW observed that trees absorb the gas, the main cause of climate change, as well as producing oxygen.
Mr McAuley said the Government and Department of Agriculture needed to boost tree-planting and change building regulations to increase the use of timber in construction. “We should be building more of our homes and other buildings with home-grown Irish timber,” he added.