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

In the past week, the economist Peter Bacon has joined the chorus of voices who are, in polite language, saying the Government's plan to sell the harvesting rights to Coillte represents economic and financial madness. The plan is to give away a vital resource that could generate many jobs and considerable revenue for the State. It could be given away for a song. Incredibly, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure last week, NTMA representatives could not tell me about their valuation of Coillte lands. They said they would revert to us but they still have not done so. There are rumours that they are grossly undervaluing the harvesting rights associated with Coillte lands.

See this speech in context