Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I attended as much of last night's meeting as I could. It was very long and not being a member of the committee, it went on so late I could not wait long enough to contribute.

The Minister, Deputy McConologue, said it is not the Government's preferred option. I appreciate that. The Minister also said that "binding, contractual" arrangements have been entered into. The first issue I have with it is the autopilot approach that consecutive Governments and various Ministers take to the semi-State sector. It is a kind of autopilot that they are over there, the Government will get the dividend and it will give them the nod on what they are looking for, in terms of raising money or whatever. That is poor practice. We need to take a more hands-on approach to broad policy agendas being followed within the semi-State sector, and particularly Coillte. This proves it. By the Minister's own admission, it is not his preferred route to go. The Minister tells us that he is incapable now of preventing it because there are contractual arrangements.

Yesterday evening, I sat beside Deputy Michael Collins and I provided him with a copy of the relevant piece of the 1988 Act. He said the Minister had the power to prevent it. The Minister frowned at that. The Minister has the power, by the way. For his information, under section 38(2) of the Forestry Act 1988, under general ministerial powers, the Minister, in conjunction with the Minister for Finance and other Ministers, can specifically direct. When it comes to raising capital, I would suggest most certainly the Minister can.

In effect, what we will have here is potentially a brass plate on Merrion Square with" Gresham House" on it. Its investors, wherever they will be in the world, will be the owners of land here. That is where the premia will go. That is where the beneficiaries will be. What is more, funds such as Gresham House will likely flip that investment multiple times between now and the maturity of the timber, etc. Unlike the lies, quite frankly, and the misleading nature of some Coillte comments that this will do great things for local investment, there will be no premia being spent in Connacht Gold or in the local Centra, as there is at present.

We are powerless to prevent any foreign person buying land in Ireland or doing what he or she wants in Ireland. The market dictates but I would suggest that when it is the State-sponsored foreign plantation of our nation, the public are entitled to take a view that we do not want to incentivise this.

If there was market failure and if there was not a robust competitive market for the purchase of land and planting, and the Minister acknowledges the serious difficulties over recent years that we are making progress on in terms of backlog on felling and planting licences, there is no issue with money. On 5 January, for example, we, through the NTMA, raised €3.5 billion in the markets for green bonds.

Coillte could have a forestry bond that could raise money directly. The NTMA could have set up a separate special purpose vehicle to invest if Coillte needed money. The Ireland Strategic Infrastructure Fund, ISIF, could have put the money in. If, as the Minister has stated, it cannot be prevented now, can he give this House an absolute assurance it will be prevented in the future and that he will encourage not only his Department but all his colleagues in the Government to take a more hands-on approach to our semi-State sector.

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