John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Noonan for raising this important matter relating to Coillte's organisational structure, which I will address on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Heydon. I welcome the opportunity to answer the questions the Senator raised and to update the House on recent developments.

Coillte was set up as a commercial State body under the Forestry Act 1988 and, therefore, is independent of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in respect of operational matters, as specified under the Act. As one of the shareholders of Coillte, however, the Minister has responsibility for oversight of the company in accordance with the Act. He also has expectations regarding Coillte's engagement in climate action, biodiversity and nature rehabilitation, all of which complement the company's contributions to the forest and wood product industry. These expectations are set out in the shareholders' letters of expectation. In this context, the Department supports Coillte's work to develop projects of scale to create, restore, regenerate and rehabilitate biodiverse habitats across Ireland.

The Minister acknowledges the work carried out by Coillte as part of its Coillte Nature brand since its establishment in 2019. Its initiatives include contributing to restoring biodiversity at The Raven nature reserve in Wexford, enhancing biodiversity in alluvial woodlands in Sligo and continuing to transform 900 ha of commercial plantations for people and nature in the Wicklow Mountains. In addition, Coillte provides woodland management services to the Nature Trust. The company has assured the Department it is committed to continuing this work, as well as all other projects that were set up under the Coillte Nature brand. The decision to absorb the work of Coillte Nature into Coillte's main forestry division is an organisational matter and this reorganisation will enable a more integrated approach to all nature and biodiversity projects.

Coillte informed the Department of this decision at a meeting in February. It explained that the need for a separate nature unit has been superseded by Coillte's overall strategic vision for the forest estate announced in 2022. This seeks to derive multiple benefits from State forests, bring more focus to climate action and set ambitious new targets on biodiversity and recreation while continuing to deliver for the forest and wood product industry. As part of its strategy, Coillte is planning to redesign 30,000 ha of peatland forest for climate and ecological benefits and to enhance and restore biodiversity, by increasing the area of the estate managed primarily for nature from 20% to 30% by the end of 2025 and to 50% in the long term. The objectives set out in Coillte's strategic vision for its forest estate are very much aligned with our shared national vision for trees and forests in Ireland by 2050 and our national forest strategy to 2030. Therefore, Coillte is confident that its decision to absorb the work of Coillte Nature into its main forest division will not interrupt any of Coillte Nature's ongoing projects and that its reorganisation will not impact negatively on the objectives set out in Coillte's strategic vision and strategy for its forest estate.