Patrick Hunt

Thanks very much for having me on.

Yeah, so last week, every school in the country, as far as I know, has received two copies of this new book titled Sick of Spruce, The Amazing Timber Tree.

So the book basically is written from the perspective of a sick of spruce tree and how it goes through the life cycle of being grown, harvested and then being used to create the beams of a school building.

Then it goes through a situation where it's reused and repurposed as the school is expanded and updated

And then eventually it goes on then to be used, I suppose, as material furniture making and that.

But the way the book's written, it presents the Sitka spruce as this amazing tree and it talks about, in very rosy pictures and colourful language, how the tree is sort of good for wildlife as a forestry tree.

One of the quotes I would probably take from the book is a thing that says, the whole woodland flourishes in a constant motion as the forest continues to grow timber for the built environment.

And yeah, while we do need timber, we do need productive timber and thick as spruce can be part of that, I do feel that the book is quite unbalanced.

It almost feels like a pamphlet from industry that's been forced on teachers and pupils, which is quite unfair.

And if there are teachers and pupils driving home today in their cars, just to make people aware that

don't just read the book and take it at face value.

Really think about, you know, whether or not this tree is something we want more of in the country.

The book has been sponsored by industry.

So Irish Timber Council, the Society of Irish Forestry and SEEFA, which is the Social Economic Environmental Forestry Association.

which has a vested interest in pushing for more Sitka spruce plantations.

So at the moment, 50% of all the trees planted in this country are Sitka spruce, 340,000 hectares of the stuff, and they're pushing for more and more.

And if you've ever been for a walk in one of these woodlands, they're effectively dead zones.

I mean, and it seems unfair that this would be presented as a child's book, as this rosy child's book.

And, you know, I just wanted to draw attention to this...

within the school system, even for parents listening to this.