Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On the contrary, the Minister is confusing the issues. I asked about the harvesting rights and the Minister spoke about selling trees. We all know Coillte sells trees and plants replacements. Any benefit or profit that is derived from that sale comes back to the State and to a State-owned company. The issue is that the Minister had proposed to sell off the harvesting rights to private enterprise. What I want to know is whether the Minister can give us a firm assurance that it is completely off the agenda to sell off at any point, now or in the future, Coillte's harvesting rights in Ireland's public forests, and whether he will commit to retaining the harvesting rights to Ireland's public forests in public ownership in perpetuity.