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

This is a question relating to Coillte and is a real concern for many timber companies and sawmills. Due to the fact that 80% of their supply comes from Coillte forests, they are concerned about the implication for their businesses of the sale of harvesting rights in forests on which they rely for a steady supply to their sawmills and the potentially disruptive effect if this sale is not managed properly. I have a list of the ten significant sawmill companies in Ireland. I have spoken to many of them and visited some of them to see their facilities, in particular Glennon Brothers in Fermoy. I am very aware of this issue.

I can reassure people that this Government is not going to proceed with a sale that will undermine or damage the broader timber industry that relies on Coillte. If we do proceed, this will be a major factor in the consideration of how we proceed to ensure that long-term and medium-term supply contracts remain intact to ensure this industry continues to grow and expand to its potential. I am not in the business of making a broad policy decision to sell an asset for short-term cash for the State in a way that will inflict long-term damage on an industry. I can assure the House that this is not going to happen on my watch.

If we make a Government decision to proceed in the coming weeks, we will do so in a way that will ensure that not only will the public asset that is timber and the land on which it grows remain intact and available to the public from an access perspective but the position held by Coillte as practically a monopoly supplier of timber to the timber industry does not change significantly the capacity to access timber at affordable prices over medium-term to long-term supply contracts in the context of any sale.

See this speech in context