Mr. Nicholas Sweetman:

I am aware of two or three. That is all. However, as I said, the IFA has no way of writing to 630 people, because we do not even know who they are. We depend on people making a complaint to their local IFA. Many people do not even know that there is a problem. Unless they have finished their 20-year cycle and have begun to receive their annuity payment, or unless they are getting to a thinning cycle or a clearfell cycle, they do not realise that there could be a problem.

Senator Daly asked if different contracts were negotiated in cases where the farmer was well-informed and, therefore, did a better deal than others. I think that is probably true. I am not suggesting Coillte set out to treat people unfairly, but if farmers knew what they were at, they would negotiate a better contract than somebody who did not. Maybe that is part of life anyway, and I am not suggesting that Coillte set out to be unfair. In fact, I think Coillte would be the first to admit that it has adjusted contracts over the years, owing to the fact that some of them were quite simply not up to scratch.

A member asked what happens at clearfell, and whether the land is saleable. If farmers have planted forestry on their land, they cannot sell it unless the buyer agrees to plant it. The requirement to replant stays with the land, whether it is sold or not. The answer to the member's question is that land is seriously devalued if it has just been clearfelled. This is only a rough estimate, but if a unit of agricultural land in a certain area is worth €10,000 and a site has just been clearfelled, its value decreases to €2,000. The value is about 20% of what it would be.