Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 23: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if any submission has been made regarding the McCarthy Report recommendations on Coillte. [23954/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, Coillte was one of 28 commercial state bodies reviewed by the Review Group on State Assets and Liabilities, chaired by Mr. Colm McCarthy, which reported in April 2011. There were three recommendations in the section dealing with Coillte, one of which was that the State should initiate the disposal of Coillte's forest and non-forest assets but not its forest land. My Department has considered the recommendations in the Report and I also asked Deloitte on a pro bono basis to examine the recommendations in the McCarthy report as they apply to my Department, including Coillte. The analysis and possible outcomes from this work will be considered by the Government, along with the future of other state assets, in the context of the work of NewERA.

As I outlined to the House in an Adjournment debate on this issue in June, it is essential to maximise the information available to the Government in order to make an informed, sensible, well-thought out decision which will not compromise the State's core asset, which is the land Coillte manages on behalf of its shareholders, amounting to some 7% of our land mass. I believe that NewERA can play an important role in this process.

To assist in its examination of options for the possible disposal of State assets, the Government has requested the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, in consultation with relevant line Departments and NewERA, to consider a number of possible assets for disposal. In addition, they will advise the Government in relation to the appropriate valuations to be placed on the assets in question, and on the most appropriate method of disposal, likely timeframe and economic impact of any such disposal, in order to inform any further decisions that the Government may wish to make in this regard.