Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----and, second, that we cannot solve our economic problems with fairy tales. I offer him another lesson, which is about distinguishing the wood from the trees or, more particularly, the woodlands from the trees. As the Deputy says, the trees have the potential to generate income for the State. That is why we intend to sell them; otherwise, one does not get money for them. The decision the Government has made is about selling the harvesting rights of trees - we are not selling the trees, woodlands or forests. However, if we want to generate income from the trees which grow in the forest, we have to sell them.

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