Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Annual Report 2012: Discussion with Coillte
3:30 pm
Mr. Gerry Britchfield:
It is 46,000 hectares or thereabouts. That is the increase in the net area of the estate through acquisitions, less areas that we have sold. The vast majority, or a significant proportion, of those sales relate to infrastructural projects. For example, when Ireland was building its motorway network we were often on the line of that road and sold lands under CPOs and other mechanisms to build them. At least half, if not more, of what we sold over that period related to infrastructural projects, including roads, or at least projects such as the Irish Distillers deal to support economic growth.