Mr. Gerry Britchfield:

I thank the Chairman and members for giving us the opportunity to make a presentation to the committee. Coillte is the largest landowner in Ireland, with an estate extending to some 445,000 ha or 7% of the land area of the country. We have a presence in every county and we employ over 900 people directly. Our log supply is the lifeblood of the Irish forest products sector, which supports 12,000 jobs mainly in rural locations. We export our forest products to over 32 countries worldwide. We are at the heart of Ireland's drive to deliver 40% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2020. We provide valuable public good benefits to the people of Ireland, ranging from recreational facilities to landscape protection to nature conservation.

Our understanding is that the committee is considering how to optimise the potential of Ireland's land, particularly in the context of achieving the targets set out in Food Harvest 2020. The overall vision relating to this is to act smart, think green and achieve growth. One of the key challenges set by Food Harvest 2020 is how to achieve the targets envisaged in respect of growth - for example, an increase in the value of primary agricultural output of €1.5 billion by 2020 - while also delivering on Ireland's environmental commitments, such as a reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions. We are of the view that Coillte's land bank can play an important role in squaring this circle.

Our natural resource assets and skillsets can be deployed to support the objectives of Government with regard to Food Harvest 2020 and to underpin other key policy objectives in a number of ways. In the first instance, our forest asset can deliver a range of benefits for Ireland including increased carbon sequestration from the trees we grow; low-carbon energy-efficient building products from a vibrant sawmill and panel products sector; and by enabling the development of a highly efficient supply chain from forest plants to harvesting to routes to market in order to encourage more afforestation by landowners. In addition, our land is ideally placed to support the roll-out of the Government's renewable energy agenda, which, in itself, will contribute strongly to lowering our greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Coillte has substantial wind energy potential and a pipeline capable of producing 500 MW will be constructed in the envisaged timeframe. We will facilitate the build-out, by third party developers, of significant additional wind energy capacity in the coming years through the provision of lands, rights of way over access routes or way-leaves. We are also working to enable the growth of a high-efficiency bioenergy sector in Ireland. To this end, we recently made a strong case to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in respect of the introduction of a renewable heat incentive.

I will now hand over to Mr. Gerard Murphy, the managing director of our forest business, who will expand on the benefits which our forest asset can deliver for Ireland. Mr. Mark Foley, managing director of our enterprise business, will then provide more detail on the renewable energy benefits we can contribute.