I wish to raise the issue of the spiralling cost of building materials. In the last six to eight months, the price of timber has gone up by 50% and this is to increase to 60% by 1 July. Insulation has increased by 20%, steel has increased by 20% and concrete has increased by 10% to 20%. Why are we not issuing tree felling licences in this country, which is one thing that could help? I spoke to a person yesterday who imports furniture. Twelve months ago, he could bring in a 40 ft. container and, for transport alone, the container cost €2,800. Yesterday, that container cost €11,000, meaning an extra €400 is added to every suite of furniture in the container, and that is just for transport alone. What are we doing about the spiralling cost of building materials and what more can we do to deal with this problem?

There has been an issue around commodities globally and there has been an increase in costs in respect of building materials and fuel costs. Some of this is the recovering of declines, particularly in energy and fuel costs, where there would have been declines throughout 2020 on the 2019 prices, and some of that recovery is feeding into significant increases in prices now. However, there is an issue for the building industry; of that there is no doubt. Huge work has been done by the Minister in regard to the forestry issue. Twenty-one full-time ecologists have been recruited in regard to forestry licensing. Ten permanent forestry inspectors and additional administrative staff have been assigned to licensing and recruitment is to continue. We are very focused on this. There was a situation over a number of years with objections and so on, and the Oireachtas changed the legislation, as the Deputy knows. We are still conscious that we have an awful lot more to do.