Seanad debates

Tuesday, 13 December 2016

2:30 pm

Photo of Terry LeydenTerry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Compass Club afterschool courses. The matter was highlighted on Joe Duffy's "Liveline" programme today. It was a worthwhile exercise on the part of that show. The clubs, which are organised by Coillte, allow young people of between six and 12 years of age to study nature, wildlife and forestry. An educational programme, it has been operated by experienced people after school.

As and from the end of December, however, the Compass Club afterschool courses will be dropped. They give children a foundation in outdoor skills and activities, running one day per week over six weeks. Courses are available throughout the school year, so if a child misses one, another will start. Someone from Killarney National Park spoke on today's programme. Senator Coghlan might be aware of him. The man was 67 years of age and was delighted to get the opportunity in September to work with and help young children, but he received a phone call on Friday to tell him that the programme had been discontinued.

We gave 600,000 hectares of countryside to Coillte. It is a poor excuse to blame the programme's discontinuation on Brexit export issues. A PR company sent a message to "Liveline", but that company will get more money than the whole programme would have absorbed.

This is a Scrooge-type operation ahead of Christmas. It is unfair. Coillte is a semi-State company that has our land. I call on the Leader to take up the issue on behalf of the young children of Ireland who are interested in the programme.

Comments

Tom Roche
Posted on 14 Dec 2016 10:44 am (Report this comment)

Dear Senator Leyden,

Thank you for taking the time to express your disappointment at Coillte's decision to discontinue the exceptionally popular after school's outdoor programme run by the Compass Club. I was the man you heard on Joe Duffy yesterday.

I commenced as an outdoor education in Killarney National Park in September 2016 after intensive training in both education and first aid provided by Coillte personnel. Today I will have to say goodbye to my 10 children with whom I have had the great pleasure of working with for the past number of months.

Coillte must now be allowed to drop this hugely important outdoor education programme. I urge you to do all in your power to ensure it is re-instated without delay.

As the person who organised and hosted the first Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Certification Conference in Ireland in 1995 that paved the road for Coillte's subsequent certification, I insist that they owe the parents and children of Ireland (the owners of Coillte's forests/lands) the opportunity to enjoy the educational and social benefits their forests provide.

I urge Fergal Leamy as a parent and CEO of Coillte to reverse his decision and keep The Compass Club going for the mental and physical wellbeing of Ireland's future generations.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Roche
Founder of www.justforests.org

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