Ms Bernie Gray:

I will revert to the Deputy, I am aware that a review of the Act is ongoing.

I shall now address the issues raised by Senator Lombard. He referred to Coillte's role in climate action. Every State company must balance its commercial and non-commercial activities. Some of the climate action activities will be commercial and some non-commercial, or not-for-profit. The challenge is to generate enough profit and cash from the commercial activities to give options in respect of the not-for-profit activities. Coillte is very conscious of this. As part of its strategic review, it is considering grouping its not-for-profit activities, some of which will fall into the area of climate action, into a cohesive unit in order that it can focus on and generate momentum in those efforts.

As outlined in my statement, there are a number of things Coillte does through its core forestry function that deal with climate mitigation, including the use of forestry for the sequestration of carbon and the processing of wood for non-carbon-related products. It is continuously exploring new technologies and product bases, which will be associated with non-carbon usage and add to Coillte's role in that respect. It is not the creator of climate action policy but can certainly facilitate it. By virtue of its current level of activity and some of the potential future activities I have outlined, I hope the Senator is convinced that Coillte is aware of its responsibilities and will organise itself in a way to best deliver on them. It will certainly participate fully with the relevant Departments and agencies in that respect.