Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish all our Ministers bon voyage and best wishes as they travel all over the world for St. Patrick's Day celebrations this week. It is important that our Ministers support our State agencies in their work to promote Ireland's strengths from culture to tourism, encouraging inward investment thereby creating jobs. I applaud our diplomatic service, Culture Ireland, Tourism Ireland, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland which are working extremely hard for our citizens. Our Ministers visits to all these regions will be an important part of that strategic development.

I am proud to be a Senator and I take my responsibilities seriously. I hope to use whatever influence I have correctly and judiciously. I rarely speak on the Order of Business and only on issues about which I know little or issues about which I would like to know considerably more. That is the role I see myself having and that is my privilege. I accept that my colleagues in Seanad Éireann also have that position. This morning I ask for a debate on the Government's intention to sell off the harvesting rights of our forests. Much has changed in recent months following the successful strategy of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the Government with the promissory notes. Circumstances have changed since the original IMF-EU discussions in 2011. I understand that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Deputy Coveney, is extraordinarily busy during the EU Presidency, as the Leader explained last week on the Order of Business. However, this issue of selling off our harvesting rights to reap private profits that ultimately will have no direct benefit to our citizens is a concern.

In a report commissioned by the Coillte branch of IMPACT, the economist, Mr. Peter Bacon, concluded the State would be liable for costs of ¤1.3 billion following a sale of these rights. To cover these costs, Coillte would need to sell at ¤78 per sq. m. While I am not an expert, the maths do not add up. The recent price Coillte gets from sawmills has been just over ¤43 per sq. m. according to that report. The British Government recently abandoned a similar sell-off plan. There are important environmental, cultural and heritage reasons for us not to sell our woodlands. During this terrible recession we need to keep some of our national dignity intact. Forestry and wood-processing industries support thousands of jobs directly and many more indirectly. There are worthwhile restoration programmes undertaken by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Coillte and others, and, as Mr. Paddy Woodward mentioned in today's edition of The Irish Times, by NGOs such as Woodlands of Ireland. The recreational value of public forests is confirmed by 18 million annual visits nationwide.

I understand Woodlands of Ireland will publish a report shortly and crucially the Government is due to consider a report compiled by the stockbroking firm, Goodbody, on the issue. I call for a debate in the Seanad on this important national issue. I will be publicly opposing the sale of our forests or our harvesting rights into private ownership. We own the banks; we need to keep the forests.