Mr. Andrew St. Ledger:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity. The authentic landscape of Ireland is western Atlantic temperate rain forest. The Irish are a woodland people who have lost their forests. A figure of 16,000 people employed in the sector was mentioned, but my understanding is that it is actually 11,500. The larger figure has been used quite a bit for years, but the IMPACT and Bacon reports on the sale of Coillte used the lower figure. In Switzerland, a country with half of Ireland's land area but twice its forest cover at approximately one third, approximately 90,000 people are employed in the sector. Switzerland's emphasis is on mixed native hardwoods and natural regeneration. It has an unbroken tradition of forest management and its people are woodland people.