Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 22 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Forestry Policy and Strategy (Resumed): Discussion

Mr. Mike Glennon:

We have two concerns. The Coillte-Gresham House agreement is a sideshow to a fundamental problem. There is no market failure. If the regulation was corrected, farmers would plant. Coillte already has 400,000 ha of land. It owns 7% of the land in the State, so I am not so sure increasing that makes sense. It would make sense if there were a market failure, but there is not. Farmers cannot get through the process of planting.