Mr. Gerard Murphy:

The Senator also asked whether people were getting a fair price and how that could be demonstrated. Under our system, we have extensive and good markets. Being the largest supplier of round log, we have developed strong markets across the country, including for pulp and sawlog.

In the case of small and large saw log, we put the material up either through our auction or the annual saw-log contracts we have with our sawmill customers. In the case of pulp wood, there is a number of different markets. We can either put in into MEDITE SMARTPLY, which is the biggest user of pulp wood in the country, or put it into local markets. When I look at the prices received against benchmarks in the private sector in the last two years, we compare very favourably. I am very comfortable saying that. Because we are a forest owner, we are actually aligned to the farmer in this regard. At the end of the day, we are always looking to get the best possible price for our product.

The other question was around profit and loss attributable to the accounts. It is not explicitly seen in the accounts. Some of it gets recognised as some of the value gets realised but most of that value is not taken up in the financial accounts. We have statements around how much we have actually spent, which is approximately €20.8 million, and we have profits realised from the thinnings we have got, which is €3.8 million. That is why this is the net payments to date in our partnerships where we have paid out €70 million. That does not include management, overheads and other costs in maintaining the forest on top of that. Currently, we have a significant outflow from the farm partnerships. We have a duty of care and we have invested significant amounts of money in the partnerships and it is in our interest as well as in that of the partners that we get full value from the moneys we have put in.

Another question was whether it was prudent to enter into the agreement in terms of variations. I understand it was asked if some people were getting a better deal. Am I correct?