Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Following on from some of the questions from other colleagues, the programme for Government commits to a target of 8,000 ha of afforestation per year. The Minister is nowhere near achieving that. In fact, the Government reached just 30% of the target last year. The crisis in the sector has become worse since the Government came into office. As we have learned, Coillte now intends to join a joint venture with a British investment fund, with the first step being a massive sell-off of thousands of hectares of land across rural communities. The Tánaiste has said he wants to explore alternatives, something he repeated today. As he knows, Coillte is State owned and the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Public Expenditure and Reform hold shares in trust for the Irish people. Will he ensure that his Ministers instruct Coillte to halt the sale while the alternatives he suggested are explored?

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