John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide an update on the establishment of BioEnergy Ireland; and its plans for an annual 14,700 hectare afforestation programme. [39377/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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In the context of the NewERA plan within the Programme for Government, the Government commits to an ambitious strategy of accelerating the development of Ireland’s forestry and bioenergy resources, including the establishment of Bioenergy Ireland. The Government has established the NewERA shareholder executive as a business unit within the NTMA. Its functions include the corporate governance from a shareholder perspective of a number of commercial State companies including Bord na Móna and Coillte.

The Government is also progressing a programme of State asset disposals, including consideration of the sale of certain Coillte assets (excluding the sale of land), which is likely to include sale of harvesting rights to Coillte’s forests. Work is currently underway, with advice from NewERA, on considering how to structure such a sale transaction, which includes consideration of the implications of such a potential sale for the future role and structure of Coillte.

My Department, along with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is currently finalising a Bioenergy Strategy, which will be published in the coming months. This will set out in detail the actions required to optimise the potential of Ireland’s bioenergy resources and how these resources can contribute to Ireland’s renewable energy targets for 2020. The establishment of Bioenergy Ireland will have regard to the outcome of these processes.