§ Mr. Kilfedderasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the acreage and current value of the timber of Government-owned forests; what is the annual output of timber; how many persons are employed; how many saw mills and chipboard factories are supplied from Northern Ireland sources; and what is the employment provided.
§ Mr. DunnThe total area of planted land owned by the Department of Agriculture is approximately 50,000 hectares. Most of the plantations have not yet reached maturity and so a valuation would not be meaningful. Output of timber is currently restricted to around 40,000 cubic metres annually.
The total number of employees in the Forest Service on 30th April 1977 was as follows:
Industrial staff (regular) 516 Industrial staff (rural improvement campaign) 943 Professional, technical and administrative staff 221 Total 1,680 In addition, approximately 170 are employed in privately owned forests.
In Northern Ireland there are one chipboard factory and about 20 sawmills employing between 400 and 500 workers. The timber used comes from privately owned forests and the Republic of Ireland as well as Department of Agriculture forests.