Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make clear that Coillte has good staff who work hard and do a great job of managing its forests across the country. It has tremendous plans for how it will develop forestry on a 50:50 basis between native deciduous trees and conifers over the years ahead. All of its forests are being managed to provide open access to the public and the public will be able to use them. It will be doing great work. As I stated previously, it has made this particular agreement in line with its strategic vision. It made public in papers, etc., as part of its strategic vision - it is clearly there over the past year - that it intended to explore private investment as part of its approach to afforestation, including, significantly, planting on public land, which it is doing, and some nature forest as well. We have had a good engagement with Coillte in relation to the particular approach it has signed up to. We have had a good engagement, outlining clearly that we want to explore with it that going forward it will be the State partnering closely with it and it partnering closely with farmers.