Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

However, does the Tánaiste agree with me that money and jobs grow on those trees on Coillte lands and that, when our country is being crucified with unemployment, austerity and cuts, it is a crime against the nation that the Government is planning to sell our nation's trees to private interests when those trees could generate thousands of desperately needed jobs and revenue for the State?

This week saw a further 1,000 acres sold. Private interests will make money from the sale of Christmas trees and logs, while industry and jobs that could have been created in the forestry sector will be lost. Will the Tánaiste grant the nation a Christmas wish by undertaking not to give away our woodlands and forests to people who see them only as an opportunity for profit? Will he give a commitment that our forests and woodlands will be retained for the benefit of the citizens of this State?

See this speech in context