In regard to Deputy Deasy's first point concerning timber processing, consideration of this is essential if we are to utilise the thinnings coming from our forests—this is an essential process from the point of view of proper harvesting of our timber resources. A detailed study has been undertaken by the Department, in conjunction with the IDA, and the report is coming to hand. I have seen it in draft and it will be ready for publication in a matter of weeks. It will set out the various options open to us in regard to timber processing in the future, not just short-term but long-term. As Deputy Deasy said, the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy, Deputy O'Malley, told the Dáil of the very expensive capital investment necessary in regard to thermo-mechanical and chemical processing of timber, which would require very expensive equipment and energy input. We are talking in terms of big money, of around £100 million. We will have to lift our whole timber processing industry out of, if you like, first stage development into a completely new state of development which will require substantial sums of money. We will have to do it if we are properly to utilise the volume of timber we will have coming on stream from 1982 to the end of the century. That is why the study I have referred to was commissioned. That report will be available for public discussion and Government decision in a matter of a month or so.
Our real problem is that in the interim, before we establish such sophisticated processing of our timber products, the plants that we have, mainly in the wallboard and chipboard areas, are having very serious difficulties caused by the importation of such products from Sweden and other third countries into the EEC. We have taken this matter up with the Community with a view to restricting such imports, which are causing difficulties not just in Ireland but in Germany, Belgium, France and in Britain.
This has been causing serious problems for firms such as Munster Chipboard in Waterford, and the firms in Scarriff and Athy. We have tried to help Athy out of it. The problems are very serious and substantial. We have on our plate serious problems affecting existing processing establishments. The Government have put money into Athy to keep the firm going. The factories in Waterford and Scarriff are at the moment under expert management and it is hoped to rationalise production and marketing. The Department and the IDA are in the course of negotiation with certain private enterprise firms at home with a view to some sort of input of investment. There will be action on this front. It is essential, from the forestry point of view alone, to maintain an outlet for our timber.
We also have had discussions with another major firm in that area, the Clondalkin Paper Mills, in recent weeks with a view to ensuring continuity of supplies of timber to them right through next season. An important firm in Aughrim and Arklow in County Wicklow are also big purchasers of timber from the Department. We are seeking to devise a more flexible tendering and selling system to these firms so that we can guarantee them a percentage on quota supplies, so that they can be guaranteed supplies at a specific price, rather than the old-fashioned tendering method that applied in the past but whereby supplies could not be guaranteed on a permanent basis for these firms. They are having a hard look at this whole area of timber processing and where it is unsatisfactory we must consider how the State can move on the matter with a view to ensuring a certain continuity. However, there may be problems in that we may not be able to sustain some of these firms, but we must ensure that overall there are sufficient guaranteed outlets for thinning. A fundamental principle of forestry is to ensure that when timber reaches a mature state it is of a proper quality. It can only be of a proper quality if the necessary thinning has been effected and the thinnings can only be taken if there are outlets for them.