Mr. Pat Glennon:

I will try to kill as many birds as possible with one stone. Deputy Ferris, Senator O'Keeffe and another member asked about meetings. We made four or five requests to meet the Minister, Deputy Coveney, in conjunction with the proposed sale of Coillte harvesting rights and the issue we are discussing. In each case, we received his regrets and were refused meetings with him. We wrote recently to the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, to request a meeting about the proposed merger of Coillte and Bord na Móna. We were told we could have a meeting after the Government has made its decision. We were not offered any meeting other than that. After we requested a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, we met his officials in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We had quite a good meeting with them in the Department.

Deputy Ferris and a number of other members asked about harvesting and haulage issues. Perhaps Mr. Mike Glennon will explain why we feel it is so important for the industry to hold on to the harvesting and haulage infrastructure and why we are looking for that to happen.