Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan's questions first. It is not appropriate to answer the question he posed until we make a decision on the sale. It is important to say that Coillte, like every semi-State company in Ireland, is going through a reform process to reduce its cost base which it needs to go through; it has been doing that to become more commercially viable, and that process will continue. However, this issue is a huge factor in the future decision-making around Coillte as regards its asset base. We need to bring some certainty to that issue and we will do that pretty quickly.

On Deputy Wallace's questions, there was never a proposal to sell any land under foot that Coillte currently owns as part of Government policy and that is still the case. The Deputy asked what is the lowest price for the sale of the harvesting rights. That is a question to which he will get an answer when a Government decision is made on this. There are no plans to privatise Coillte as a company.

On Deputy Boyd Barrett's questions, in terms of the idea that one cannot sell an asset and allow a company to survive because it loses such a large asset, forests will still need to be serviced and managed, there will be contracts in place if there is a new owner-----

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