Ms Bernie Gray:

I will answer that in the first instance and go back to the question about the commission. An amount of the proceeds of the sale went towards repayment of debt which existed on Coillte's balance sheet at that time. The balance was then available for reinvestment in the business, afforestation being part of that. The board this year has been working hard with the management team in looking at the areas for investment in the business. Ms Hurley will talk more about that. It is a combination of repayment of debt and capital reinvestment.

The Deputy also referred to the impact of the forestry commission in Scotland. The Mackinnon report identified a number of factors which, in Mr. Mackinnon's view, contributed to a higher level of net afforestation in Scotland. Mr. Mackinnon reported that the commission could possibly have been one of these factors, but he could not be definitive about it. He referred to the size of the holdings that have traditionally been used for afforestation. The holdings in Ireland are much smaller than the holdings in Scotland. Mr. Mackinnon referred in his report to the "lack of political priority given to forestry".