Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When one looks at the seven issues being discussed, part of the permutations is the size of the parcels and the length of the lease. That probably underpins much of the considerations. As the Senator noted, this is very complex. Those seven issues feed many other concerns.

I will bring the discussion to a close. I thank Mr. Gunning and Mr. Egan for their open and frank engagement with the committee. The committee has been intrigued by and very interested in getting detailed information and we got the first taste of it today. There is a lot of work to be done and if we are going to have any input into what is happening through an all-party forum like this, we need to keep moving on with regard to it.

One point I would make because I have plugged myself a little bit on this, relates to the fact that in the last Dáil, the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security commissioned a report on protecting forestry from climate change, which was endorsed by the Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture. This report considered the use of the forest estate after 1990 for forest sequestration. It was with the help and great co-operation from members of staff at Coillte headquarters that we were able to formulate a tabulation of value.

Mr. David Gunning mentioned in his submission the 2020 emissions target. We also have Food Harvest 2020. At present these objectives are on a collision course. What might help to mitigate the impact is that people get serious about the carbon value of forestry post 1990. This would involve both private forestry and Coillte. There has been considerable investment in private forestry. There are, as Mr. Gunning stated, 14,000 private farm foresters. A significant number of those were done in conjunction and in partnership with Coillte. That is a factor. I am mentioning it because nobody else has. Senator O'Keeffe mentioned the seven streams of work but the eighth point is the position of Coillte post whatever decision is taken and where it sits in the whole structure of the forest management structure of the country. I have no doubt that Coillte will continue and in those seven considerations, Coillte's role and positioning is very important. At the end of the day somebody will have to manage the overall resource, whether it is leased or not on behalf of the people of this country. It is most likely it will be Coillte in some format.