John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if provisions will be included during any possible sale of certain Coillte assets, including harvesting rights to Coillte’s forests, that an afforestation programme must be undertaken in order to encourage a gradual increase in the number of trees rather than a short-term sell-off of our forests. [44967/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the Government Decision that a concession for the harvesting rights to Coillte’s forests be put forward for possible sale, Coillte Board and management have been actively engaged in recent months with NewERA, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and my Department to examine the financial and other implications of developing the potential of Coillte’s forest assets.

The process is at an early stage and a number of issues, including the replanting obligation, have been identified in relation to the possible harvesting rights concession. In order to preserve the forest estate, my Department’s long-term policy is that, apart from exceptional circumstances, replanting should take place on all areas harvested.

The Forest Service of my Department promotes afforestation, on an ongoing basis, as a viable land use for farmers through the provision of planting grants and payment of annual premiums. A total of €111.76 million in funding for capital and current expenditure was allocated for the overall forestry programme in 2012, to facilitate the payment for close to 7,000 hectares of new planting.