Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators and welcome this evening’s discussion on Coillte and Bord na Móna and the vital role each company has to play in helping to address our climate change and biodiversity objectives. I welcome the direction of the Bill. The spirit of the Bill is very much consistent with the programme for Government commitments in regard to each of the two companies.

Let me advise on the current legislative framework governing Coillte’s role. Coillte, as Senators know, was established under the Forestry Act 1988 to become custodian and manager of the national forest estate. The focus at the time was to put the estate in the charge of a company that would realise its potential and support wood production. It is important not to dismiss the production of timber which will come from softwoods as an essential part of decarbonising our construction sector into the future. Provision was made in the legislation for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to issue directions to the company. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform are shareholders of the company under the legislation. The shareholders provide guidance to the company through the shareholder letter of expectation. This provides the opportunity to require Coillte to deliver on Government policy objectives. The most recent letter issued on 2 June 2022. It comprehensively and clearly asked Coillte to contribute to our climate change objectives by re-entering afforestation in order that we can meet our ambitious targets. It also outlined Coillte’s critical role in helping to meet our biodiversity objectives. It further outlined its responsibility to create new woodlands and to supply wood products to supply the bio-economy. We have encouraged Coillte to continue to provide safe and sustainable public access to the nation’s forests for the purposes of health, well-being and recreation. We also asked Coillte to invest in the creation of further recreational areas in order to support tourism and local communities.

Also highlighted in the shareholder letter is the need for the company to be viable. In order to participate in the State’s response to the climate and biodiversity emergency the letter states that the company should be profitable and in a position to pay dividends to the shareholders; and it must manage the forest estate and related enterprises in a manner which ensures that it is not a burden to the State but rather a contributor to the Government’s economic, social and environmental objectives. Colleagues in government have highlighted the importance that the potential consequence of any proposed legislative change of Coillte’s commercial mandate would be carefully considered. This would equally apply to Bord na Móna.

Much has changed for Coillte and the rest of the world since its establishment in 1988. Coillte now has a division, Coillte Nature, which is solely devoted to managing the delivery of nature and biodiversity initiatives within Coillte forests. Today, 90,000 ha or the equivalent of one-fifth of its forest estate is managed primarily for biodiversity. These initiatives include planting native woodlands, restoring important biodiversity areas, regenerating urban forests for the benefit of people and nature and rehabilitating ecosystem services on sensitive lands such as peatlands. A good example of these conversion projects is the Dublin Mountain makeover where hundreds of acres of forests in the Dublin Mountains have been converted to native woodlands and mixed forests, through remove and replant operations and continuous cover forestry management systems. Coillte has also restored more than 3,000 ha of designated peatland habitat on our lands and has immediate plans to restore a further 3,000 ha as part of the western peatlands project.

It is important to note that Coillte has aligned its future vision with the shared national vision for trees, woods and forests in Ireland to 2050. In Coillte’s strategic vision published last year, Government objectives in regard to climate and biodiversity clearly underpin the actions outlined.The division has a strong focus on sustainability. For instance, Coillte has committed to: growing 100,000 ha of new forest by 2050, half of which will be native woodlands and which will provide a carbon sink of 18 million tonnes of CO₂; managing the existing forest estate to capture an additional 10 million tonnes of CO₂by 2050; producing 25 million cu. m of certified Irish timber, helpingIreland to achieve its housing ambition of 300,000 new homes by 2030; increasing the area of the forest estate being managed for nature from 20% to 50%; and investing €100 million to create world-class visitor destinations by 2030.

With regard to compliance with environmental requirements, Coillte is subject to the same vigorous assessment as all applicants for felling, afforestation and forest road licences. This robust process ensures that all EU directives are observed. Furthermore, the National Parks and Wildlife Service must be consulted on any forestry development in European special areas of conservation and special protected areas designated under the EU birds and habitats directives. No such afforestation may proceed within these areas without the agreement of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Under SI 477/2011 - European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011, Coillte, as a public authority, must comply with the birds and habitats directive.

I turn now to Bord na Móna, which comes under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Being a Minister from the midlands, I am acutely aware of the importance of our peatlands to our heritage and identity in Ireland. Tomás Ó Ceallaigh, in the first democratic programme of the First Dáil, on 21 January 1919 stated:

It shall be our duty to promote the development of the Nation's resources, to increase the productivity of its soil, to exploit its mineral deposits, peat bogs, and fisheries, its waterways and harbours, in the interests and for the benefit of the Irish people.

Through the Turf Development Act 1946, Bord na Móna was established to deliver on that duty. Through its employees, it set out to develop Ireland's peat resources for the economic benefit of Ireland. This peat, as Senators know, was used to generate electricity for Irish industry, towns and villages when there were few alternatives available to a growing nation. This work provided security and in doing so, provided much-needed employment across the midlands and in building communities there.

It is critical that we all recognise the contribution of Bord na Móna during the decades since 1946. However, we also recognise that as our needs and priorities have changed during that time, Bord na Móna has changed with them, pivoting from producing sod, milled peat and peat briquettes to generating power from wind and continuing its transition from brown to green. Bord na Móna is already making good progress in enhancing the biodiversity and water quality of its lands as it is obliged to comply with climate, biodiversity, water and other environmental objectives set out in the programme for Government and wider Government policy and legislation. There are a number of tools and mechanisms to ensure that Bord na Móna meets its statutory environmental obligations, such as through shareholder letters of expectations, rolling corporate plans and strategies, and through ministerial consent requests from the company.

This Bill seeks to remove the duty from Bord na Móna to produce and market turf and turf products, and to foster the production and use of turf and turf products, replacing them with duties to manage, protect, rehabilitate and restore bogs in the State to ensure consistency with the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and our various environmental objectives. The company already does all of this and more. As its new logo testifies, Bord na Móna is more than móna. Green power generation and resource recovery are central pillars of the company's ten-year strategy. We need to carefully consider how to frame the duties of the board in a way that recognises the company that exists today, almost 80 years since the Turf Development Act was written. Notwithstanding the very positive direction of this Bill and its consistency with Government policy and direction, any changes must give due consideration to Bord na Móna's ability for commercial growth and strategic transition. The same applies to Coillte.

Returning to an earlier point in recognition of the importance of Bord na Móna to the midlands and its communities, I wish to emphasis in the strongest possible terms my commitment to providing meaningful job opportunities in the midlands for local communities as part of a just transition. Coillte and Bord na Mónaare delivering their existing mandates in accordance with sustainability principles and it is fair to say that we have seen a sea change. Since the Government took office, both companies have stepped up in the context of the vital role they have to play in furthering Government policy with regard to climate and biodiversity objectives. I acknowledge that the primary legislation, as currently drafted, does not fully articulate those obligations that are covered elsewhere in Government policy, other legislative requirements and the shareholders' letters. In view of this, the Government will not be opposing the Bill on Second Stage.