Ms Bernie Gray:

I will just make some opening remarks in response to what the Deputy said and then I will pass over to Ms Hurley. Regarding the communication on the Gresham House deal, it is clear that it is a very complex transaction and requires a significant amount of communication. We would absolutely accept that we need to communicate much more clearly and in a much timelier fashion. However, our expectation for the Gresham House deal was based on the extensive communications we had with stakeholders after our vision was launched last April. None of those discussions indicated the depth of the concerns which emerged when the full detail of the Gresham House deal was revealed. The reaction to it was unexpected.

I wish to put it in context. It is a small part of the many routes we will take on afforestation. We accept it was a complex transaction, but our expectation was based on the prior discussions we had in which no adverse comments were made to us. At the same time, we are very conscious that there was misinformation which exacerbated the concern and confusion for everyone including the staff of Coillte. The net result is that we will not take anything for granted in future.

In terms of the land use, many factors impact the price of land. There is no doubt the Gresham House transaction has brought to the fore the challenge for Ireland's land use policy. It is a debate we will need to have. We are in the middle of a climate emergency and if we cannot deal with the difficult issues that emerge as a consequence of that - land use will be one of them - then as a nation we will fail our generation and the next generations. It is in everyone's interest and in the national interest that the issue of land use should be resolved. It should not come down to how much a farmer has to pay for land to meet his requirements versus a commercial interest, a private forest or a housing development. It needs a more regulated space to minimise the risk for any of the participants in the market. It comes down to what the national land-use policy is in the broadest sense.

From our point of view, it would make our life easier as well. We, as a company, have sought to act in the national interest. Our mandate is to manage the forests of Ireland for the people of Ireland in the best way possible. In our vision we are trying to calibrate and balance all the expectations about how forests can be used. It is the first time that we have brought forward a strategy which is balancing the use of forests for wood on the one hand, which Senator Lombard referred to, with the use of forests for recreation on the other hand. There are more than 18 million visits by the members of the public to our forests in any one year and that must have a value. It does not come down purely to economic value. It comes down to an aggregate value which is a combination of economic, social and climate factors. We are trying to inform a discussion and debate about where the balance should be. Land is one of the factors in that debate.