Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I find myself in a ludicrous situation in that I must thank Deputy Creed for allowing me some of his time. If I may, I will allow some of my time to Deputy Ferris, with whom I was to share my time. Why do we find ourselves in circumstances where I have merely two or three minutes to discuss a princely sum that could potentially amount to €400 million?

I do not have adequate time to discuss the fact that the CEO of Coillte is being paid over €400,000 at a time when the subsidiaries under Coillte are completely under-performing, nor do I have time to analyse properly the Minister of State's speech, in which he states €1.89 billion, or just under 1% of GDP, is attributed to forestry. That figure is from 2008 but it will be reduced significantly in the future given that the subsidiaries are under-performing. I wanted time to discuss this in greater detail.

I also wanted to discuss the fact that the Forest Stewardship Council audited Coillte in 2006 and that this is not mentioned in the Minister of State's speech. The results of the audit cast a poor light on some of Coillte's practices that are worthy of consideration in respect of this Bill. I wanted to discuss the fact that Coillte is currently being audited by the Forest Stewardship Council. Will the Minister expound on that process?

If there is time, I will allow some to Deputy Ferris.

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