Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The proposed partnership between Coillte and a UK-based investment fund is a bad deal for multiple reasons. It is also symptomatic of this and the previous Government's disastrous approach to forestry. The forestry sector has been in crisis for years. The Government is only reaching one quarter of its own afforestation targets and its agricultural policies are pushing farmers away from forestry. The planned Coillte deal has been opposed by the Irish Farmers' Association, called a scandal by the Irish Wildlife Trust, and the Irish Forest Owners have described it as being not in the best interest of rural Ireland. This begs the question in whose interest this deal is because it is not in the interests of the general public and rural communities. Why is the Government allowing this deal despite the wide-scale opposition? It is another worrying sign of increasing privatisation and the prioritisation of investment funds profit over the national interest. Every day we see how this trend plays out with disastrous consequences for ordinary families in housing and in healthcare. Forestry is now next. Some €25 million of public money is going into an investment fund's pocket when it should be given to rural communities. It is also a regressive step for our climate and biodiversity targets. It flies in the face of a fair transition. It will force land prices up impacting farmers and local communities. Coillte is co-owned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on behalf of the Irish people. This plan is opposed by the public and stakeholders. The Government has to use its position to immediately halt this incredibly bad deal. It is a misuse of public money, it is harmful to rural communities and to our biodiversity. It is a disgrace that the Government is supporting it and it is almost difficult to watch the Minister and the Minister of State in the House defending it.

The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, said there was not any publicly-owned forests being sold and it reminded me of a local issue in Cork. Coillte are willing to sell off a massive section of Ballymartle Woods because a private party wanted it. There is no sense of the public duty to hold and develop our woodlands for the people. Unfortunately, none of this is surprising. The Government's forestry policy has been so disastrous that it is scrambling for any kind of project that will enable tree planting no matter the cost or the consequences for rural areas. The programme for Government sets out a target of 8,000 ha of new forests per year. Currently, it is reaching about one quarter of this. Afforestation rates have actually decreased further under this Government, even with a Green Party Minister directly responsible. Forestry should be area where Government can make considerable progress. It is in everyone's favour if done correctly. It has enumerates benefits but official mismanagement has threatened the viability of the sector and thousands of jobs involved as well as failing miserably to reach afforestation targets. This is simply a national disgrace. Presumably, in some sort of attempt to address its failing policies, the Government is content to let private investments funds boost the official figures of tree planting; never mind the cost to local communities and to the Irish forestry sector.

The Government seems to have no appreciation of how bad this deal is and the message it sends to rural Ireland. There are glaring and well-established problems in the forestry sector.

First, the licensing system is still failing to facilitate the commercial sector and afforestation policy. While there have been improvements, the backlog and waiting times are a significant deterrent both for commercial activity and for farmers and rural landowners pursuing tree-planting.

Second, Government policy is disincentivising farmers from engaging in afforestation. The schemes and payments in this area are not competitive with other farm subsidies and schemes. Hard-pressed family farms make decisions on the basis of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s policies. If it makes more economic sense to go into dairy and beef, then obviously people will. The Government then acts surprised when these schemes are not taken up and we cannot reach our targets. Between 2015 and 2020, the number of farmers participating in new afforestation fell by 90%.

Under the Food Harvest 2020 plan from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the ambitious milk target was met in 2017 and the beef target was met almost immediately. In contrast, the highest the forestry target reached was 50% in one year and it has been decreasing every year since.

For years forestry and farming organisations have highlighted the need for more incentives to assist farmers in planting while the 2019 Mackinnon review mentions delays, uncertainties and perceptions of excessive bureaucracy as disincentives to farmers.

When I raised this matter with the Tánaiste in the past week, he said that farmers will have to be the biggest drivers of our afforestation effort. Government policy completely contradicts this. Farmers are being pushed out and deterred from afforestation.

At a time when the Irish forestry sector has been screaming for years for reforms and a proper licensing system, and farmers are calling for more concrete and easily accessible support, this deal is just beyond belief. Not only does it ignore all of these legitimate and long-standing issues but it directs public money to this partnership rather than to the existing sector and to farmers. It shows that the Government has no idea how bad things are and no concept of the frustration out there. The Government seems clueless to the reality on the ground.

Millions of euro from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is being used to subsidise this partnership between Coillte and the UK-based investment firm. This investment fund will also be able to profit from grant aid in order to grab large amounts of land. Public money is basically being given away to this private interest rather than to the Irish forestry sector and to family farms. The chairperson of Irish Forest Owners body has made that exact point saying:

... instead of this money going to farmers and staying in the local economy, the forest premia and single farm payments associated with the land acquired for planting will leave the country and go to corporate investors.

Likewise, the Irish Farmers Association has highlighted that and stated that, "Any income (forestry premiums, carbon value, profit) will not be spent in the local community or the local economy, as it would be if farm families or local people afforested these lands." The Social Economic Environmental Forestry Association and other stakeholders have pointed out that this proposal is, "Giving investment funds an unfair advantage at the expense of existing farmers, new entrants, and young farmers, essentially pushing farmers off the land. Farmers could be competing with Coillte for one in every three acres." Not only is this deal greatly benefiting the profit margins of a private investment fund; it is blatantly damaging rural areas.

The glaring question still remains as to in whose interests is this deal? It harms the existing forestry sector, farmers and rural communities and is practically universally opposed. Why then is the Government insisting on this hands-off approach? The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, together with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform own Coillte on behalf of the Irish people. Now they need to fulfil their obligations to people and to rural families to halt this deal. We need a very significant increase in afforestation. It is clear that this Government is not capable of providing it. Timber is being imported to meet construction and other needs when we have the capacity for Irish companies and farmers to produce the required materials. This also means that we are missing out on current and future bio-based industries which will require additional harvested wood.

Most significantly, afforestation is very important for Ireland’s climate goals. This sector has the potential to make a very significant difference to our emissions budgets, especially in offsetting agricultural emissions. Planting native broadleaf species must be a core pillar of this process. The agriculture committee’s report on the forestry sector from March 2021 recognised that native broadleaf species provide greater social, cultural as well as enhanced environmental benefits than non-native species and the committee called on the Department to deliver a specific strategy to increase the proportion of native broadleaf afforestation.

A proper afforestation programme has multiple interconnected benefits which improves national economic resilience, local prospects in rural areas, and has climate and biodiversity benefits. Against these overwhelming advantages, it is disgraceful that the Government has consistently failed to promote and facilitate afforestation on the scales required. This deal between Coillte and the UK-based investment firm is bad in and of itself but it is symptomatic of the Government’s larger very clueless approach to forestry. By any measure, this Government’s forestry policy has been a failure, making sweetheart deals with private investment funds just further compounds that issue.

Existing forestry companies employing thousands of people and farming organisations are crying out for support but who gets the millions of euro of investment first? It is a private investment fund which is only interested in profits. Instead, the Government could invest in rural communities. Stopping this deal is the Government’s chance to show the Irish people and the sector that it is serious about its reform and taking a new approach. I ask that it does not pass that opportunity up.

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