Mr. Jim McNamara:

With regard to the proposed investment in smartply, if harvesting rights are sold, will a contract be given to the two board mills for supply? We do not know and the point must be dealt with. If investment is required for smartply, it should come about.

The question of planting trees as opposed to more regular agriculture has been raised, and there is much land that is not good for agriculture but it is good for trees. There is a compelling argument to be made for planting more trees. We accept that Coillte must be reformed, and what has happened is not right. That is not the fault of sawmills but the issue should be dealt with as well. The return from Coillte has been pretty poor, and all we need to do is read the McCarthy report, which states pretty clearly that profits in Coillte came from the sale of land rather than trees.