Protesters have disrupted a speech being given by Environment Minister Richard Bruton at a climate change conference.

Two members of Extinction Rebellion - a group which opposes commercial forestry - joined the minister at the top of the room and held up banner, which was quickly pulled down.

Minister Bruton was forced to stop his speech when more protesters began shouting.

One of the event organisers managed to bring the situation under control.

She told the room: "We will get the opportunity to say all... but this is achieving nothing for anybody.

"So is there one person who'd like to come down, we'll give you five minutes and people will actually listen to what you're saying.

"Because you're achieving nothing here".

The conference, 'Forestry: Real Solutions to Ireland's Climate Emergency', was hosted by Ibec body Forest Industries Ireland (FII).

It heard that managed forests are the most important crop that can be grown from a climate change perspective and are a 'game changer' for sustainable job creation and wealth generation in rural Ireland.

The conference, held in the National Botanic Gardens, heard from industry and environment experts that forests alone have the potential to help mitigate the EU's CO2 emissions up to 20% by 2050.

Timber products can now replace carbon intensive building materials and wood fibres provide alternatives for consumer products such as plastic cups and synthetic, oil-based textiles.

Wooden skyscrapers or 'plyscrapers' are also being built, with the highest being 14 storeys in Bergen, Norway.

Irish forests sequestered 3.6 million tonnes of CO2 on average per year - the equivalent to 60% of the CO2 emitted annually by cars on Irish roads.

Last year Ireland produced 1.9 million tonnes of wood products, which contained 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 - the same amount produced by 525,000 cars, or 291,000 households.

Reporting by Kacey O'Riordan and Jack Quann