140 jobs under threat at timber plant in Clare

The jobs of 140 workers at an east Co Clare timber processing plant are under threat as a result of strict new environmental controls laid down by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Last month, the EPA awarded a new integrated prevention/ pollution control licence to the Spanish-owned Finsa Forest Products in Scariff.

However, in an objection against conditions in the new licence, the company's chief executive officer, Virgilio Romero Suarez, told the EPA that having studied the draft licence and "discussed its contents with our parent company, we cannot sustain the imposition of environmental conditions that are not imposed on any of our competitors within the EU."

Enterprise Ireland has also lodged an objection against conditions in the licence, saying "it will impact negatively on the com-pany's competitiveness and threaten 140 jobs in Scariff".

Finsa's most recent accounts show that it paid out €5 million in wages in 2004.

At the centre of the dispute between Finsa and the environmental agency is the agency's insistence that it must not use any recycled material in its production process, including recycled materials from construction and demolition waste.

The EPA has imposed the condition due to contaminants that may be present in the used wood.

In its objection, Finsa stated that it began using recycled material in 1995 and currently uses 35,000 tonnes of recycled material in its process "and this has become vitally important to the economic survival of our company".

The company pointed out that if the condition is not modified it will cost it €790,000 a year - the company's most recent accounts show that in 2004, it made a profit of €116,000 which followed a loss of €1.82 million in 2003.

Finsa also pointed out that the use of recycled wood is cheaper than virgin wood, demands less energy to be processed and reduces the company's CO2 emissions by 2,040 tonnes a year.

The company is now proposing a set of controls to the EPA that would allow it continue to use recycled material. A decision on the objections lodged by Finsa and Enterprise Ireland will be known in a number of months.