Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the United Left Alliance Members for putting forward this motion, which I am happy to support. The sale of harvesting rights to Coillte will have a detrimental effect that is far more costly to us than any up-front income could ever offset. Coillte is an example of a strategically important asset that offers several major benefits to the Irish economy and environment. However, these benefits are not being considered by the Government in advance of the sale. Coillte has not yet realised its full potential. The company could diversify into providing fuel for our fledgling renewables industry as well as enhancing the public amenity aspects of Coillte lands.

I will speak on another occasion about the climate change Bill, the heads of which were published today, but it is disappointing in many respects. By acting as a carbon sink, Irish forestry could play a significant role in helping us to achieve our 2020 emissions reductions targets. We have international and EU obligations to meet those targets. It is estimated that Coillte forests currently store 10.5 million tonnes of CO2 and the current stock of trees can sequester up to 1.1 million tonnes per year. This offers a clear opportunity to use our natural resources wisely in order to meet our international obligations without having a heavy impact on the ordinary operations of Coillte, provided the company maintains a healthy replanting policy. Coillte grows an important renewable resource. Wood pellets are a by-product of the timber industry and there is also potential for biomass production.

The company sustains employment in rural areas and as these jobs are not the type that can be developed in urban areas, it creates a balance. Up to 80% of the timber it produces supplies the indigenous market, but the sale creates the potential for putting these products on a ship so that some other country can sell them back to us in the form of cheap furniture. This makes no environmental sense. If we experience an oil shock, for example, timber will become much more expensive. We currently have a measure of control by virtue of the fact that our timber is locally supplied. Privatisation could be detrimental to Irish sawmills and panel board mills, which employ up to 1,800 people.

Ireland's afforestation policy calls for 17% forestry coverage by 2035 and yearly afforestation rates of 20,000 ha per annum until 2048. We would in effect be abandoning those goals if we sold our harvesting rights. Ireland is already one of the least forested countries in Europe. This is not a good deal for the State. The Bacon report pointed out that the State would lose all the profits from timber sales even while retaining the deficit funding requirements, including the company's pension liabilities. The proposal does not make economic or environmental sense. Coillte is an important strategic asset which we need to retain.

It is more difficult to estimate the potential income from the public amenity aspect of our forests, but the Dublin Mountains Partnership represents an important development in this regard. In my constituency of Kildare North, Donadea Forest Park is very popular. People visit the park every weekend and it is widely used over the summer. The Government's plan creates the prospect of heavy industrial machinery mixing with people. The landscape will no longer resemble a forest park. One can easily visualise the loss of that amenity. This issue urgently needs to be included in the broader equation.

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