Address by Mr. Michael Ahern, T.D., Minister for Trade & Commerce

At the Official Opening of the Seminar entitled "Developments in the Irish Timber Industry"

On Thursday, November 27^th 2003 at 9.30 am

In E.I. Conference Theatre Glasnevin

I am delighted to be here with you all today to open this Seminar on Developments in the Irish Timber Industry. This industry is of great importance to the Irish economy employing 16,000 people both directly and indirectly.

The timber industry comprises sawmills, board mills, importers and distributors. The growing forest resources of Ireland are now producing 5 million cubic metres of timber annually and this is set to increase significantly over the next twenty years. This will have a significant effect on our economy.

The largest end user of this material is the Irish construction industry and this industry has gone from strength to strength. The strong ongoing demand for housing looks set to continue for the next number of years and will present many opportunities for Irish timber and Irish manufactured construction products. With a range of new building systems, such as steel and timber frame, being more widely used, it is important that quality in design, manufacture and building is controlled and monitored.

These building systems represent an increasingly vibrant area and are steadily increasing their market share. Timber frame housing now accounts for about 20% of the market for new homes. Successful Irish companies using these building systems are exporting to the European Union and further a field. The NSAI is playing an important role in providing Quality Assurance schemes and certification in relation to timber frame construction and this activity is growing strongly.

The introduction of new Building regulation requirements and Technical Guidance Document L, relating to Conservation of Fuel & Energy, lays down new and strict requirements for the thermal performance of buildings. This has led to the increased use of highly insulated factory made building components. Timber frame has been particularly successful in responding to these new requirements and construction trends.

Future developments in the construction industry and in standards will include the requirement for CE Marking of a wide range of construction products. This will occur as the new harmonized European standards on each construction product are coming on stream. In April of next year, it will be a requirement throughout the European Union that all wood based board materials are CE marked. CE Marking of other construction and timber products will follow over a period of time.

I wish to endorse the Governments commitment to improved Quality and Quality standards for not only timber products but for all construction products manufactured in Ireland, in helping to confirm their suitability for use both in Ireland, the European Union and elsewhere. In this regard the NSAI has a strategically important role in the Irish economy, in the provision of quality certification schemes. These schemes enable Irish made products to be of a certified level of quality and thereby to compete on equal terms with products from any other part of the world.

I would like to commend NSAI for organising this valuable seminar, I am sure it will be of great benefit to us all. I would like to thank all of you for coming here today to participate.

Thank you.

ENDS/TC 75