Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a problem with the Minister's reply. He says the sale and acquisition of land takes place on a regular basis and is the responsibility of the company. The Irish people believe these forests are our land and our crop, to be managed on our behalf. Coillte is making decisions to sell our land behind closed doors. It is clearly necessary, even more so in view of the Minister's reply, to have a rigorous public inquiry into the actions of this organisation. It is a commercial semi-State company, not a private commercial one. It pays over the odds to its chief executive officer and sells off land belonging to the people. It is not accountable anywhere for that activity. There is outrage in Donegal at the proposal to sell another 1,000 acres. That the Minister would say it has nothing to do with the Government and that it is the company's decision is not acceptable. There must be scrutiny of where our money is going and why these lands have ended up in the ownership of the Irish Forestry Unit Trust, an amalgam with AIB and Bank of Ireland and in which Coillte is also involved. There are many unanswered questions about what is a fundamental State asset. Switzerland, which is half the size of Ireland, employs ten times as many people in its forestry as Ireland employs.

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