Malcolm Noonan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht teacht isteach sa Teach. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis. I have not had the opportunity to formally congratulate him on his appointment. I received correspondence from the Department of agriculture yesterday indicating that neither the Minister for agriculture, nor the three Ministers of State, were available to take this Commencement matter, so I appreciate the Minister of State being here.An article by Caroline O'Doherty in the Irish Independent on 22 March this year reported that Coillte had very quietly folded its dedicated biodiversity division, Coillte Nature. At the time, Coillte stated that it would subsume and embed its biodiversity duty across the organisation. It was also claimed that staff and all relevant stakeholders had been informed of the decision in January, yet the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, wrote to the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, in March asking what was happening at Coillte Nature. The Minister of State replied a few days later saying that he had raised the issue with Coillte. I am not sure if Coillte is duty bound to inform the Ministers, but that was the response.

Coillte Nature was established as a not-for-profit section of Coillte Teoranta and was dedicated to the restoration, regeneration and rehabilitation of nature across Ireland. Its work included the Dublin Mountains makeover project, a hugely important stakeholder project that has provided great benefits to the communities there. There was also regeneration of the midlands' native woodlands and wild western peatlands in the north west.

In 2024, Coillte signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, in my presence and that of the then Minister of State, Pippa Hackett, at last year's National Ploughing Championships. The memorandum undertook to work collaboratively on the restoration of Coillte lands of strategic value for nature or where they were of a poor yield class. It focused particularly on sites such as the Slieve Bloom Mountains that could benefit threatened hen harrier populations. On announcing the decision, Coillte stated that it had decided to absorb the work of Coillte Nature into its existing and larger Coillte Forest organisational structure and that this reorganisation would enable Coillte to significantly improve its delivery on climate and nature restoration projects. It went on to say the decision was in line with the strategic vision published in 2022. On page six of that document, however, Coillte Nature is given an explicit role in nature restoration work, which I would have assumed is a hugely important part of its work. Coillte is also one of the State's largest landowners, responsible for 140,000 ha of land, or 7% of the country's land area.

This was a very strange and quiet deletion from the company's business plan and strategy. What is happening to staff in this instance? Have there been any redundancies? Were all relevant Ministers informed? I am conscious that there was an interregnum between the outgoing Government and the formation of the new one. Could Coillte not have waited until a new Government was formed to engage with relevant Ministers? At a time when we are in the depths of a biodiversity crisis, is this a bad business management plan by Coillte? How will it impact on the business model and the nature trust? That is a lot of questions and, as the previous speaker noted, our committees are not yet up and running, so there is not an opportunity to engage directly with Coillte on this or to ask what the rationale was behind this decision.

In light of the Gresham House deal and the really poor communication around it, there are significant concerns among stakeholders in the forestry sector. Was the board informed of this decision? Is it not a signal that Coillte is not committed to nature restoration? That is the question, given that this week we have embarked with the stakeholders on engagement on a national nature restoration plan. That is a lot of questions and I appreciate that the Minister of State is here on behalf of the Minister for agriculture, but it is important that we get answers on this.