Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and commend my party and constituency colleague, Deputy Carthy, on his work on this issue and on bringing this motion to the Dáil. The motion aims to put a halt to Coillte's proposed joint venture with Gresham House. I am dismayed by the Minister's answer that the deal has been done. This deal will see millions of euro in public funds used to subsidise the purchase of huge swathes of Irish land by a British investment company. The deal was not transparent and it has rightly been criticised by a broad cross-section of interested parties. Despite what the Minister is saying, it must and should still be stopped. The Government owns Coillte. It must instruct it to stop the deal with Gresham House. Ireland needs to plant significant levels of forestry to meet our climate obligations. It cannot be done without engagement and buy-in from local communities and farmers. Forestry policy should deliver for communities, local economies and the environment. However, Governments and particularly this Government have overseen the disengagement of those stakeholders from forestry, and this proposal will make a bad situation worse.

Over the last decade, the purchase of land by large corporates and the blanket planting and subsequent clear-felling of Sitka spruce and the lack of genuine consultation have meant that many communities, particularly in west Cavan and County Leitrim, have become hostile to forestry. In November, it emerged that Coillte was planning to enter into a joint venture with British investment fund, Gresham House. The Green Party Minister of State with responsibility for forestry knew as far back as March 2021 of Coillte's proposed approach. The primary purpose of this investment is that it would allow Coillte access to state aid via forestry premiums once again, which it had previously lost due to a state aid ruling by the European Court of Justice. It is the wrong approach and will discourage farmers and local communities from engaging in forestry programmes. The climate action plan suggests we need to plant 8,000 ha of new forestry each year. Some suggest the figure should be even higher. It simply will not happen if farmers are not central to the forestry programmes. The Coillte deal with Gresham House will drive them even further away. Instead, the Government should focus on addressing the problems that have caused farmers to flee the sector. It should immediately publish the new forestry strategy, clear the remaining forestry licensing backlog, continue to process new licence applications within a reasonable timeframe on a consistent basis for both Coillte and non-Coillte applicants, and implement the Mackinnon and subsequent reports.

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