Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Coillte's Annual Report for 2016 and Climate Change: Discussion

4:00 pm

Mr. Fergal Leamy:

I will try to answer as many of the questions as I can and then my colleague, Mr. Murphy, will answer some questions specifically on forestry. Deputy Kenny asked how much is exported in raw material form without value added. Very little is exported from this island on which there is not some value added. We estimate the total exports of timber products to be around €700 million a year. All of that is material taken from our forests and processed in processing facilities throughout the country or turned from a log into a construction material such as C16 which is used in roofing in the UK and other places. In our two facilities in Waterford and Clonmel, we take the fibre and put it into boards, either MDF or OSB, and add a lot of value to the boards before we export them. Very little is exported off the island without adding value. Having said that, there is further opportunity for us to add even more value and move away from commodity construction products into higher value added items, which is why we are investing in our facilities in the south east to try to get as much value for each piece of timber that comes out of our factories as possible. We might get €10 for a normal OSB piece of timber, but if we treat it and make it fire resistant or suitable for outdoor use, we can get multiples of that from the same piece of fibre. The focus should be on that and on innovation.

In terms of wind energy and the conflict with communities, we are fairly distinctive in how we approach wind energy development in local communities. We are hugely conscious of the impact it has on local communities. Not all wind energy development is the same. We have to meet our targets by 2020 and beyond and we should be playing a strong role in that. Renewable energy is a way that Ireland can do that and it has a competitive advantage in doing so. We need to be much more thoughtful in how we engage with communities. A good example of a wind farm we have recently opened is in Raheenleagh in Wicklow. Before we had a wind farm there, we had maybe 20 or 30 visitors in a weekend. On some weekends over the summer there were several hundred visitors to that facility because we put in facilities such as car parks, picnic benches, paths and trails. We are opening up the forest, renewable energy and wind turbines in a way that is sympathetic to the environment and can co-exist with local communities. More needs to be done and will be done as we think about the next stage. It is an advantage for Coillte to develop some of these things.

There are two issues in terms of replacing land we sell and the dissatisfaction with the current partnership. Coillte Premium Partners is a new product we have launched in recent months. The Deputy referred to the farm partnerships, which go back a number of years. Mr. Murphy will comment further on them. I will provide some perspective. I agree there are significant lessons that need to be learned in those partnerships. The partnerships were launched 15 or 20 years ago and are now coming up to that initial stage. There are 700 or so of those partnerships in existence. Farmers believe some are very strong but we are getting feedback that they are not happy with others. I agree with Deputy Cahill's viewpoint that communication will be key in helping people to understand these and that we should make it less complex in order that people understand the product. We have taken it on board and it is something we are working hard at. We want to make sure that when we talk to farmers about the product, there is as much communication as possible. We are addressing the old farm partnerships with our farm partners as they come up and working through each of the issues that arise. There are numerous examples around the country where people have had concerns. They have approached us and we have engaged with them on the farm partnerships.