Ms Imelda Hurley:

For clarity, when we launched our vision, we were clear regarding the afforestation ambition we had and that capital would need to be raised. In our engagements, we have been clear that we need to work with and engage a fund manager concerning the raising of that capital.

Capital would need to be raised. In our engagements we have been clear that we would need to engage a fund manager to support the raising of that capital. We are in the advanced stages of discussions regarding that engagement but I am not in a position, because it involves a third party or parties in the raising of investment, to say what that party is.

Regarding the broader question as to why Coillte needs to access capital and use a fund manager, the reality is that the scale of capital needed runs close to €2 billion. Coillte does not have that level of resource available to it. The level of capital required is very significant and we are looking to deliver a scale afforestation solution and to deploy capital at scale. Long-term investors are needed and we are very pleased that there is significant interest by Irish investors. Forestry by its nature is very long term and we are, therefore, looking at a long-term investor class. As an example, it could be pension funds. That is the model required to raise the capital to deploy it to deliver the 100,000 ha of new forests.