Local and Global

Cad a dheanfaimid...what happened to our wood?

Local actions have Global impacts.

Ireland has the largest per-capita consumption of tropical timber in the EU!

For centuries native Irish grown wood was the only wood available to the artisan, and those involved in all aspects of construction. In recent years that trend has changed. For well over 350 years Ireland has been a major importer of exquisite tropical woods-our main supplies coming from African countries and elsewhere...

History and Ireland's Forests
The generally accepted estimate is that about one-eight of Ireland was covered by forests and woods in 1600, and an additional amount was composed of land that was barren, boggy, or both. By 1700, the Irish woodlands had been reduced to about 2 percent of the total land area.

A flourishing seventeenth-century timber export trade died out in the early years of the eighteenth century, and Ireland became a timber-importing country.

The collapse of the Ulster rebellion led by Hugh O'Neill in 1603 marked the final stage in the Tudor conquest and opened up the island to more intensive colonisation and economic exploitation. One of the inducements offered to English settlers was the profit to be made from cutting woodlands as part of their civilizing mission.

Forests were the haunts of wolves and Irish rebels that were best cleared. Half-timbered houses in Londonderry and other new colonial settlements drew on cheap Irish oak supplies.

A newly expanded export timber trade sent roundwood, planks, and staves to Europe and, increasingly, to English and Scots markets. Staves were the principal export item. In the mid-1680s, Irish ports shipped over 20 million staves. Irish coopers used native ash and oak to make curved staves and flat headpieces for for barrels, hogsheads and butts. these were shipped to be assembled with willow witches or bands at their destination. The vigorous Irish export trade in provisions-butter, beef, tallow, and fish-also consumed large numbers of casks.
(The above was taken from: The Unending Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World by John F. Richards.)

The following line from an early Irish poem lamenting the destruction of Ireland's forests could very well apply to many countries today where forests are threatened with commercial over-exploitation and illegal-logging.

Cad a dheanfaimid feasta gan adhmad, ta deire na gcoilte air lar.
(What shall we do without timber, all the woods are cut. - English Translation)