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

He was someone who chose to repudiate his wealth and walk among the poor. The Government might consider taking a leaf from his book. My main question relates in a way to something we might consider at the weekend when we commemorate another saint, St. Patrick. The occasion is a celebration of our national identity. As Minister in charge of Coillte and the State forestry, will the Minister for Finance take the opportunity of this weekend to reconsider the plan of the Government to sell off the harvesting rights to our State forestry, which is a symbol of our national heritage, history and culture? We will consider these things this weekend and many of us will probably walk in the State forests over the weekend. Does the Minister not believe it would represent the ultimate betrayal of our national heritage and culture to sell off the harvesting rights to our State forests, especially when it is likely that the people who would purchase them will be the same bankers and bondholders who bankrupted the country? Since this Government and the previous Government have agreed to pay off those gambling debts we could have the ultimate irony whereby we are forced to sell off our State forests to pay the debts of banks, and those self-same banks would end up owning the forests. Would it not be the ultimate betrayal of our national heritage, history and culture to sell this precious asset to Helvetia Wealth and its subsidiary, headed up by Bertie Ahern, the Irish Forestry Unit Trust, a consortium involving Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks and Irish Life, or the China State Bank, which has expressed an interest? Is it not unacceptable to sell this precious resource to pay off the debts of bankers when those bankers would end up owning our State forests? Will the Minister for Finance use this weekend to reconsider the plan of the Government and give a commitment that it will retain the State forestry in public hands and use it in the interests of the people?

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