Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 13 December 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Forestry Strategic Vision: Coillte

Mr. Mark Carlin:

Yes. I will get to that point. I understand the nature of Deputy Fitzmaurice's question. What we are doing here is for the long term, namely, out to 2050. We could say that it is going to be 20% of 2,000 ha, which would not be not good enough. We know we need to increase planting to 8,000 ha. We need to be part of that, private forestry companies need to be part of it and farmers will have to do the lion's share of the work because they own the land. We determined that we need to get to 18% by 2050. That is the stated target, and it is beyond 8,000 ha. We need to be part of this. How are we going to be part of it? First, by looking at public lands. There is an opportunity for us to help other agencies with our expertise and the plants we have to create new woodlands on public land. There is a proportion that will have to be acquired on the open market. Our biggest challenge, in the context of our ambition, is how to acquire the land. There is no doubt about that.

On the Deputy's comment about driving land prices up, there is only a point where we can get in to get land for forestry. It is not in our interests to drive up the price of land. We have to do that very responsibly.

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