Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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No, the state aid rules have been under review for some time. The Commission carried out a review of the state aid instruments for agriculture, forestry and rural areas and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine made a submission to that and got involved in the consultation process in 2021. The European Commission very helpfully published all of the submissions they received from each Department and I have the one from Ireland here. There is not a single reference to Coillte and the fact that state aid rules precluded our publicly-owned forestry body from engaging. Is there anything in writing to suggest the Department proactively sought to change these state aid rules?