Results 5,681-5,700 of 23,948 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I should have said that the letter Coillte wrote informing me was dated 16 December, which was when Coillte sent it, but that was after Coillte had signed off on the deal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The Minister of State might comment as well, but as I outlined at the start, I was aware that Coillte was going to engage with private investment in order to enable it to do the 100,000 ha when I was given a pre-briefing at the end of 2021. It was common knowledge throughout last year. Coillte published its strategic vision in April where it made that clear. Newspaper coverage of same at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: I only became aware of the deal after it was done. Coillte is contractually committed to it and has an obligation to it. The deal represents 3.5% of Coillte's total ambition between now and 2050. Having examined the deal with Coillte, it is not our preferred option. We are looking to see how the State can partner directly with Coillte and are considering options for it to partner with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: As of 16 December, Coillte was contractually obliged. To the Deputy, any other Member of the Oireachtas or anyone engaged in the forestry sector who was paying attention to Coillte's publicly advertised plans to use private investment to help it afforest, the principle that it was going to engage private investment was well known and open knowledge. Obviously, the tendering process to put...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: My opening statement is the one I delivered at this meeting and is the one I put together. I understand the public's position on this. The public have made their view clear and I have listened to them. With the Minister of State, I have also met Coillte about this matter. Our preferred option is for Coillte to engage with public bodies about public lands, with the State and with farmers....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We are all in the same position on this, Deputy Carthy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Let me answer the questions and you can ask them, Deputy. Coillte made it clear to the Deputy as well as to the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and anyone else it engaged with, that there were a number of ways in which it would try to step up to its 100,000 ha afforestation target. One of those was to engage with private investment. It then proceeded with that and engaged with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: -----with the State.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: The State will work with farmers but Coillte has done this particular deal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That is a standard outline from the Minister to the semi-State organisation in relation to the work it will be doing and it was very much to enable it to continue the work and to do the work in line with its strategic vision, which the company has outlined to Deputy Carthy, as well as to me and to others.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Coillte has outlined to Deputy Carthy, when it met him, the different ways in which it would do afforestation. One of them was to avail of some private finance. The letter of expectation from me as Minister was to enable Coillte to step out its work on getting towards 100,000 ha of afforestation and to be able to explore the options to facilitate it in doing that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Not this particular deal, no. It was the principle of enabling some private investment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: One of the reasons Coillte stopped doing afforestation in 2004 was because until that point in time, it was able to avail of forestry premiums in the same way anyone else could. After 2004, as a result of a state aid decision, it was no longer able to do that. That then meant that the financials for the company to be able to do afforestation itself did not stack up in the way it had before....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: In order to do that, it has been looking at options as to how-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: What Coillte is looking at is how it can be enabled to do plantation, in a way that is compliant with state aid rules.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: That has been the reality. Coillte has a target of 100,000 ha of afforestation and has been looking to enable mechanisms to do that. There are three different options. Public land is one of those options.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: Let me finish. Public land is one of those options, also the creation of native forests and one of the options it is exploring is to partner with some private investment. Coillte was stepping out what it had announced it would on how it could get to that stage. We met Coillte last week. It is our clear intention to have the State work with the company more clearly. To enable that, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: We can also look-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Policy and Strategy: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (25 Jan 2023)

Charlie McConalogue: -----in relation to premiums and revisiting that issue of State aid.