Mr. Mark Carlin:

Let me try to allay those fears. The Deputy is some way wide of the mark when it comes to that scale here because Coillte manages 50% of the forests. I refer to what the Deputy is playing out there in terms of price-takers and contractors and relationships. Certainly, 20 years ago, Coillte would have managed 80% or 85%. We now manage 50%. The private market, in terms of timber production, will be at 50% in ten years' time. There will be more opportunities than ever for contractors and other forest companies working within the private sector because the private sector will grow. What we are talking about is a very small percentage of afforestation.

The other point I would make is that some of the private forestry companies are already using third-party capital anyway. The model that we propose is a model that is already in the private sector in terms of the forest management companies using private capital. They do that skilfully. They have their own cost base and their own methodology to do that.