Mr. Pat Collins:

To pick up on Deputy Martin Kenny's point, yes, it is a serious issue that where the price of timber is low, Coillte can go in and cut its partners' timber. There is nothing to stop it from doing so and it is quite possible and probable that it has happened. Does it have an effect? Yes, it does because it affects the annuity and how it is calculated. This results in an economic disadvantage for the partner in question because he or she is not maximising his or her income. One must ask how someone can sell the timber here and be the buyer at the other end? It just does not work. That is the issue. The Deputy is correct; there are peaks and troughs and it fills the void when the price of timber is down. There is nothing to stop Coillte from doing so. However, at that end it is the sole benefactor because the price of timber fluctuates.

To follow on from Deputy Willie Penrose's comments, yes, we do take into consideration the contracts and what has happened. Those who signed the contracts were elderly and vulnerable persons and not aware of what was happening. They trusted Coillte and the State. Coillte was seen as a State organisation. In the early 1990s many did not know into what timber would mature. It is a very valuable crop, something of which they were not aware. They were not given professional or the correct legal or financial advice by Coillte at the time. Many of those who signed the contracts were not experts in forestry. That is the problem. How do we rectify it? We must sit down with the people concerned to see what we can do for them. That is what the IFA has done and what we want to do. We want to try to help them.