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

That is not much of an answer from the Minister. He could indicate who those stakeholders are and who the Government is talking to about the sale of the forests. I asked the Minister whether he would reconsider and review the commitment of the Government to sell off the harvesting rights to our State forests. If we do this - if we sell off our forests - we will be the only country in Europe to have disposed of the harvesting rights to state forestry. In one country where this was partially done, Sweden, after several years there was a national outcry and then Sweden took the state forestry back into public ownership. In another country which has partially privatised state forests, New Zealand, one of the richest people in that country now owns a significant part of the state forestry and, as a result, there has been a significant loss of jobs and public access, a significant outflow of profits from the country and damage done to the country's sawmill industry.

Banks are not interested in protecting public access, national heritage or the long-term stewardship of forests. They are interested in turning a quick buck. I put it to the Minister that this is not the way to protect our forests. What we should do and what I call on the Minister to do is to retain our State forestry fully in public ownership and manage and develop it to create jobs and desperately needed revenue for the State, which could be done if it was managed properly and sustainably, something banks will never do.

See this speech in context