Mr. Mark Carlin:

On average, we buy between 200 and 300 ha per year, but part of our strategy is to accelerate that significantly for reforestation and afforestation, into growing our business and estate and to contribute to the national target for afforestation of 8,000 ha per year.

On the question about planting guidelines of 53% Sitka and about how we treat individual sites, Coillte is certified PFC and FSC. There are guidelines for the primary and secondary species and we are well under the threshold of 53% Sitka for the former. We do not measure or monitor it at an individual level but rather a regional level because it makes the best use of the land. One wants to put the right tree in the right place for the right objective. It is important that the more productive areas of our estate have more commercial species and that the areas of our estate that have higher biodiversity have greater diversity, perhaps by using native woodlands. Some sites will have a proportion greater than 53%, some might have as much as 90% commercial, while others might have 90% non-commercial. It depends on the site characteristics and our objectives. Nevertheless, when planning our reforestation, we always try to ensure that whatever biodiversity is on site will be enhanced or restored. A subject of which we are acutely aware, related to one of Deputy Cahill's questions, is that some of our forests, both private and public, are too close to dwellings or public roads. The new afforestation and reforestation guidelines have done a great deal to address this, with appropriate setbacks from houses and roads.

New forest which we are putting in place has good boundaries and good setback distances. However, forests that are more long-established may be too close. What we are doing is engaging with local landowners and we correct as much as we can, where appropriate. I am satisfied the new guidelines which we follow take much more recognition of our neighbours.

On the question of ash dieback, this is clearly a major challenge for the country, given ash is such an important species for us, not only commercially but also culturally. Unfortunately, we have to remove ash from some of our sites due to Chalara dieback. We are in discussions with individuals about the best way to approach this clean-up operation and what we can do to replant their sites. One of the positive news stories is that we are working very hard on a resistant strain of ash to get back into planting ash as quickly as we can. We are working hard with the Department in terms of identifying strains of ash that will prove resilient for Chalara because it is important to start planting ash again.

The Deputy had a question on insurance for contracts and I presume he means the contracts for farm partnerships. Many of our partnerships are on the basis of insurance being carried out by each individual partner. Coillte is self-insured and we do not specifically insure our crops, so we carry the risk. It would be simply too costly for us to insure our entire estate. Some of our partners would insure their own crops and there are insurance schemes available for them to do that. One point to note is that as these partnerships mature, the risk somewhat passes from the partner to Coillte. As we pay out annuities, the partner is realising the value of that asset and the value moves towards clear fell, so the risk passes a little more over to Coillte. However, it is up to each partner to insure their portion of the partnership. I believe that answers the main forestry questions.