Ms Imelda Hurley:

I am very happy to respond to that point. The Vice Chairman is correct in that figure of €30 million for the dividend in 2021. This year we have had a very solid year. I would use the term strong in terms of the previous year for a moment. There was a strong start to the year. We are having a significant challenge at this stage with timber pricing reducing somewhat. Demand is also going down, as many consumers are dealing with the cost-of-living challenges and pulling back. We are also seeing an increase in costs. We believe that next year will be a challenging year. Our dividend in any year is determined on the basis of a payout ratio that runs to between 20% and 30% of what is called normalised profits. Effectively, the €30 million was a calculation based on the 2021 results. In 2020 our dividend was €2.3 million. It was very much lower on the back of that year being impacted by Covid and some licensing challenges at the time.

Coillte delivers financial dividends and it delivers social dividends. Over the evolution of Coillte for much of the time, perhaps the focus was, in many ways understandably, on financial dividends. I believe there is now a broader understanding of the social dividends and societal expectations. There is also more understanding of the science of what Coillte can deliver. Today we are talking about the multiple benefits of forestry in a way that we did not speak about a number of years ago. Today it is about climate, nature, wood and people. We believe it is very important for us to deliver the social dividends and also that we maintain a very strong successful and financially viable Coillte which is in a position to deliver financial dividend. On an annual basis, that is considered by the board and we engage with our shareholders.

As we look forward, we are always happy to have that engagement and to articulate not only the financial dividend but the social dividend that we are also delivering.