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

The Minister of State did not really respond about the experience in respect of Coillte as an example of what we are discussing. When the Government committed to sell off the harvesting rights of Coillte, NewERA was dealing with that area. NewERA had been charged with the responsibility for managing something that had been written into the troika agreement. The Government's policy was to go ahead with it up until the moment it decided, under public pressure, that was not going to do it.

During that period we got responses to parliamentary questions, which the Government said we could ask. We asked the questions but we could get little information about what the hell NewERA was doing in terms of preparing for the sale of the harvesting rights of Coillte. If I remember correctly, at the time there were several references to commercial sensitivity put out as the cover for the non-answers about what was going on inside NewERA in terms of preparing for the sell-off of Coillte. The avenue of parliamentary questions, Leaders' Questions and so on was pursued. All these approaches were employed by the Opposition to try to get information but they yielded virtually nothing about what the hell NewERA was up to with regard to the detail of preparing the ground. As Deputy Doherty said, it was not that NewERA or the National Treasury Management Agency per se, with the approval of the Government or the Minister, could undertake the sale. Rather, NewERA was told to go about putting together the nuts and bolts of the sale, and we could get no information about what was going on.

I think I understand correctly what Deputy Doherty is saying. If that sort of work is being undertaken by this body then we have the right to some say in it and it should be debated in the House. That would add necessary transparency to an important area.

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