Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the gentlemen for coming in. The Irish Timber Council is an important voice that needs to be heard in our wider debates around afforestation.

I want to pick up on the last point in respect of the Coillte-Gresham House joint venture deal. The witnesses probably feel the need to be more diplomatic than many of us do but it is an important point they raise. The rationale for this joint venture has been sold on the basis of the inability of Coillte to draw down State aid for new afforestation, but as the Irish Timber Council points out, a significant portion of the land that will be purchased under the joint venture is existing forestry and, therefore, will not be eligible for grant aid anyway. From the Irish Timber Council's perspective, what is the logic behind this? Does it believe this is simply a land grab of a different nature than perhaps we were talking about in January when this debate was at its height in respect of monopolising the timber sector or is there another reason that is not quite as obvious and that I missed?