I understand the Minister's difficulty. Unfortunately for the country we are not able to supply the demand that exists. My question relates to the tendering system. Will he tell the House what qualities that system has and what justification exists for it to continue in any form? Widespread dissatisfaction has been expressed about it, and it is beyond me to understand what is attractive about it or why the Department maintain it.

Traditionally in this House and under financial regulations, a strict formula applied in relation to the disposal of natural and national assets. The Deputy will know that there is a committee of this House which deals in depth with public expenditure and the expenditure of all Departments. Heretofore regulations have insisted that the disposal of such assets be done in a fair way. Secondly, they are expected to realise the highest return possible to the Exchequer. Coupled with that we have to ensure in so far as we can in the Department and the FWS that because we have not the supply to meet the demand any system we apply will be a fair system and will give everyone a share of what is there. It is not adequate to meet the needs, but we have to try to spread the gravy as evenly as possible. Problems arise from that. Criticisms are voiced because people who are seeking timber cannot get adequate supplies. That is not my fault. We are talking of trees coming onstream and large saw logs; we are talking of trees that were planted 35 or 40 years ago. I was not around here at that time.

I accept that the problems the Minister faces are ones he inherited. Will he accept that the criticisms made now are made in good faith by interested parties? Will he undertake to examine the specific complaints that were made which are undermining confidence in the working of this service? Specifically, will he consider the matter of the absence of specialist training for staff and management, the high harvesting costs because of faulty practices, the lack of policy to improve timber quality by culling, and the absence of any proper marketing strategy? All of these factors are undermining confidence in that section of the Department. Will the Minister have these points examined, and, if necessary, take action?

I regard what the Deputy has said, and particularly the last part of his statement, as the function of the Minister. It is my job to look into these matters and see where improvements can be carried out. In relation to the first part of his question, I accept that many of the complaints are made in good faith. In my day-to-day work I take on board many complaints made by individuals in the industry and I try to resolve the situation satisfactorily. The problem is that we have an expanding capacity. Despite the fact that the people in the industry know that the capacity to produce 100 per cent is not there, they still expand their operations. People go from one shift-working to two shift-working and so on and that aggravates the position, which leads to further complaints. While improvements can be carried out in handling what we have, the basic complaint is that the people involved cannot get sufficient supplies of timber. Deputies may blame whom they like for that but I do not take responsibility for it at the moment.

Will the Minister not agree that there are a number of matters with which he can deal in this situation? The Irish Timber Council have spoken about the continuing unreliability of raw materials. The Department should indicate at regular intervals when they have quantities of timber and there is the problem of location. People in the industry have to make long hauls while, on the other hand, timber is readily available to other purchasers within easy reach. The tendering system and the sales system are completely disorganised.

I am awaiting a report which will be available shortly from an interdepartmental committee on all that area of activity. I hope that the recommendations in the report will help to solve many of the problems referred to by the Deputy.

Does the Minister agree that as we spend so much time in this House discussing import substitution——

That is argument.

I asked the Minister if he agreed——

You could read the local newspaper and ask the Minister if he agreed with the contents and we could be here for a couple of weeks.

I seem to be out of favour. The industry say that they could substitute £100 million of soft wood timber in one year. Does the Minister agree that that is a matter of extreme urgency and that he should not be waiting for the report?

Any timber mature enough for sale, whether in large saw logs or pulp wood is being disposed of and that is my responsibility. Any timber coming on stream available for a particular purpose is being put on the market.

The questions have been about the tendering system and I am not altogether happy that the Minister has approached this with certainty. I know he is expecting a report but I would ask him to bear in mind that the Irish Timber Council and people involved in the business are complaining bitterly about the amount of management time which is wasted examining timber which they may never have an opportunity of buying because of the tendering system. Could the Minister devise a system whereby the price of timber acceptable to the State would be published and sold on the open market without involving a tendering system? I urge that point of view on the Minister. He may get a few extra pounds for the Exchequer through the present system but the amount of time wasted is enormous.

The Minister referred to the inter-Departmental committee and said that he was awaiting their report. Does the Minister agree that in setting up that committee, he expected a report before Christmas 1983 or very early in 1984. What is the cause of the delay?

The cause of the delay is that the committee went outside their terms of reference to embrace a much larger area of the industry so that they could make a more comprehensive report. It proved to be very complicated and I accept that it is taking some time. However, the committee are trying to do a good job and I expect this report very shortly.

Could the Minister state the composition of the inter-Departmental committee and whether professional and technical personnel in his Department are represented on it? Is he also prepared to admit that part of the difficulty is that forecasting within the Department is affected because of financial cutbacks which have meant shortage of staff and manpower to mark out the necessary tenders which would be available?

I am quite satisfied that the designation of lots is going on and that there is no difficulty in relation to the designation of lots for sale. Anything ready for sale is coming on stream.

Are professional and technical staff involved in the review committee?

Yes.