Dáil debates

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

Priority Questions

Coillte Teoranta Lands

2:20 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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41. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether Coillte's recent announcement that it is examining 25 of its land parcels and seeking partnerships with private developers to develop these sites as industrial wind farms represents a significant diversion and potentially conflicts with its core mandate to protect the national forest estate and promote afforestation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47188/17]

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister may have read the article, and has probably been made aware by Coillte itself, that it recently announced that it would be looking at 25 of its land parcels with a view to developing large-scale industrial wind farms in partnership with the private sector. Does the Minister not think this is another example of Coillte departing from its core function, which is to be the guardian, protector and promoter of Ireland's forest estate? Does he not think that it should concentrate on that? This measure will almost certainly involve cutting down trees on those sites rather than growing them, which is what Coillte is supposed to do. It is just another example of the back-door commercialisation and semi-privatisation of Coillte, when it should be concerning itself with Ireland's forest estate.

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. If that was the case I would indeed be concerned. Coillte was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act 1988 and day-to-day operational matters, such as the management of its lands, are the responsibility of the company. I recently had the opportunity to meet with the chairman and the CEO of Coillte and we reviewed the performance of the company. I was very impressed with the direction of the company and I noted in particular the dividend of €7.2 million it paid to the Exchequer last year.

The matter of its wind farms portfolio was raised with Coillte which advises it has, over the last number of years, refocused its business on core forestry with the ambition of becoming the best forestry and land solutions company in Europe. The company advises that a key part of this strategy is to grow its forestry business and to maximise the value of non-core land. I understand that a key driver for Coillte wanting to bring in a partner on future renewable projects is that it agrees its core focus should be on forestry and land solutions and has no intention of becoming a utility company.  Coillte expects that, by bringing in a partner, it will be able to stay focused on its core business and extract value from its non-core forestry land. The company outlined the rationale for this proposed approach at my recent meeting with it.

In respect of afforestation generally, I would like to stress the Government’s commitment to the increase of the national forest estate through the ongoing allocation of funding to support afforestation and other measures. This commitment is evident from the forestry allocation announced as part of budget 2018.  The allocation of €106 million, including a capital carryover, for forestry development will allow for the planting of over 6,600 ha of new forests next year.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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First of all, the 6,000 ha which the Minister is talking about is a massive undershoot on what is necessary in order for us to reach our target, which keeps shifting out in any event, but which is currently to move from a pathetic 11% rate of forest cover to 17%. In deference to my Sinn Féin colleague, I stress that we do not want to see the expansion of the industrial sitka spruce type of afforestation but rather the development of native broadleaf species, particularly in uplands. I suspect that these are precisely the areas where these very controversial industrial wind farms will be developed. Major questions lie over these farms in terms of the contribution they will make to net carbon reduction in real terms. On the other hand, we know that native broadleaf forests contribute in a measurable way to net carbon reduction through acting as carbon sinks. We also know that they enhance biodiversity and, critically, help mitigate flooding downstream. In Wales, big projects are going on lands which would not be considered suitable for industrial or commercial forestry. Native broadleaf species are being grown on the uplands for their biodiversity benefits, for their carbon sink benefits, but also because they mitigate flooding. It has made a tangible difference downstream in terms of mitigating flooding. Why is Coillte not doing that instead of building more industrial wind farms?

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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First of all I should apologise for the Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle, who is unavoidably absent today. This is his core area of responsibility. It is not at all as if Coillte is abandoning its core objective on these lands, which may have potential for wind harvest. The nature of much of Coillte's estate is that they are elevated lands which, apart from being suitable for growing trees, also have the potential for quite a substantial wind harvest in terms of energy generation. During the meeting I had with it, the company really wanted to convey that it is very anxious to get back to the core business of growing trees and putting more trees in the ground. To do that, it must be able to generate the funds from its assets and to sweat them, including land which has potential for wind generation. Appropriately managed, such measures will secure funding which will enable it to drive the core business forward. That is important.

The Deputy talks about what he might term the paltry targets in respect of our annual planting of 6,600 ha. That is a challenge in itself. We have, in recent years, been struggling to meet that level of ambition. Obviously, it is positive that Coillte is actively considering re-engaging in the market and planting new lands and new trees, as is the private sector which can avail of the grants which are available. It must be borne in mind that Coillte is not entitled to benefit from that grant aid. We are putting our money where our mouth is as a Government and are providing €106 million for forestry and substantial supports for afforestation. I agree with the Deputy in terms of land management. It is worthwhile to pursue action on the mix between broadleaf and sitka spruce and so on.

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I do not want to be intervening all the time, but I would remind Ministers and Deputies that the clocks are there and they should keep an eye on them. We will see how Deputy Boyd Barrett performs now.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Putting up these big wind turbines involves pouring masses of concrete for the bases. There are very real questions about whether there is a tangible net benefit in terms of CO2 reduction when the transport costs of bringing concrete up, building roads up to the top of these mountains to put up these wind farms, and so on are taken into account. That is opposed to growing trees, which does not have all those downside consequences in terms of climate mitigation but has all the upsides from every single point of view. Coillte is not delivering. It is an absolute scandal. The Minister is right to refer to this, but we should be fighting it. It is an absolute scandal that the State forestry company cannot engage in afforestation because of flipping EU state aid rules. It is a shocker. We should be screaming from the rooftops about how mad that is. This is against a background of Europe setting these targets and telling us to be serious about CO2 reduction, carbon sinks and so on while at the same time preventing our State forestry company from doing forestry, thereby forcing it into doing other things such as linking up with the private sector in the back-door privatisation of valuable State forest and land assets.

2:30 pm

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My effort is lost in terms of trying to convey that it is not a case of either wind energy or trees. In fact, the objective is to try to maximise the potential of some of the sites to harvest wind in order that the company will have the resources to reinvest in its core business. That kind of refocusing on the core business is a direction of travel that I believe is welcome.