Dáil debates

Tuesday, 24 January 2023

Forestry Sector: Motion [Private Members]

 

10:00 pm

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and Minister of State tonight tell us a narrative that a deal engaged in by Coillte with a British investment fund is essentially something they can do nothing about. They say they cannot instruct Coillte to stop the deal even though they do not like it or, to use their term, it is not their preferred option. That is not true. The suggestion that the Government as the owner of Coillte cannot tell that company to disengage from a multimillion euro contract would be laughable if it were not so serious. Then to go further to suggest that while they cannot instruct Coillte in respect of the Gresham House deal, they have told it to examine other options for the future is cynicism of the highest order. If the Government cannot stop the Gresham House deal, how on earth does it expect us to believe that Coillte will adhere to its directions on anything else in the future?

Both Ministers know the truth. Not only was the Government aware of Coillte's plans but those plans were devised in collusion with the Government. I will put on the record of the Dáil the small text in a reply to a parliamentary question that I received from the Minister today but that he did not repeat tonight. It states, and it is the first time I was aware of this, that a shareholder letter of expectation issued to Coillte on 2 June 2022 which included a direction to Coillte to develop initiatives to support and realise the planting of such forests to a meaningful scale in the years ahead, whether as part of its core business or as a participant in a subsidiary or partnership enterprise. It is clear that the Minister was aware of what Coillte was planning to do and that letter of expectation was the go-ahead and mandate that Coillte needed to approach Gresham House and make the deal.

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