Boosting the Republic’s ability to build with wood could aid house building while supporting local industry, Imelda Hurley, chief executive of State forestry company Coillte, said on Wednesday.
Addressing a Build with Wood conference, Ms Hurley noted that the World Bank recently predicted global timber demand could quadruple by 2050.
“It is critical that Ireland is self-sufficient in meeting its timber needs from well-managed forest which takes pressure off ‘old growth’ forests elsewhere in the world,” she added.
Coillte aims to increase the proportion of timber-frame homes in the Republic to 80 per cent by 2050 from 20 per cent now.
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Timber has lowest “embodied carbon” of any building material as it takes less energy to produce.
Pippa Hackett, Minister of State for Forestry, pointed out that building with wood cuts the need for materials made using fossil fuel.
She told the gathering that a recently announced government scheme would provide €1.3 billion to support new and existing forest owners to grow more timber.
