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

Here is the supreme irony. The Minister says we must sell the harvesting rights to our forests because we must pay off the gambling debts of banks, yet those banks or a Swiss bank such as Helveta Wealth, with its subsidiary headed by the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, may end up owning the forests.

The choice we are putting forward is very simple. Should the people or the banks own the forests? We say the people should own them. Please do not tell me that Helvetia Wealth or the Chinese, who have also expressed an interest, or Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland will develop our forests in the interests of the public and in the interests of public access, environmental integrity and protecting our heritage.

They will not. They will take what they can get from the forests, make as much money as possible for shareholders and probably sell them on in a few years. Forests, more than anything else, require long-term management and stewardship in the interests of future generations.

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