Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Coillte representatives for being here. As I was not at December's meeting due to a family bereavement, I will not go back to that. The Gresham House thing has been covered fairly well. The representatives will be relieved to hear I will probably not pursue that line either.

I will go back to Deputy Fitzmaurice's line of questioning and get a little more clarification on the matter of peatland and peat soil in the context of the European Commission's nature restoration proposals. The witnesses said Coillte has 120,000 ha, 30,000 ha of which may not be replantable. How much land has Coillte an eye on for planting, which may come into that category, that will never be planted now? It would probably be illogical to plant it, if it will tick a negative box down the line. How will Coillte balance the books on that? I will not tie the representatives to 30,000 ha, which I know is an approximate figure, but that is a net loss; another 30,000 ha will have to be planted to get back to square one. Will they tell me a little more about where they are with that, and where they see themselves being with it, in particular with regard to future timber targets? We will forget about carbon sequestration for a minute. It is about being able to meet timber market demands going forward.

Coupled with peat soil and restoration issues, Coillte now has a commitment to plant much more native broadleaf and a commitment to biodiversity areas with no planting. From the perspective of meeting future timber demands, how will Coillte balance that equation?