Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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110. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update regarding the sale of Coillte; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35049/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It was announced in February 2012 that the Government had decided that consideration would be given to the sale of some assets of Coillte, but excluding the land. The outcome of that initial consideration was that the Government agreed in principle, in June 2012, to the sale of the harvesting rights to Coillte forests as the best means of extracting value from Coillte in the short to medium term. On the basis of a thorough analysis undertaken by NewERA, Coillte, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and my Department, the Government decided, on 19 June 2013, that it was not the appropriate time to proceed with the sale of harvesting rights in Coillte, that the focus must be on the restructuring of Coillte and that a robust analysis be carried out to evaluate how to give effect to a beneficial merger of Coillte with Bord na Móna to create a streamlined and refocused commercial state company operating in the bio-energy and forestry sectors, as committed to in the Programme for Government.

The most recent update in relation to Coillte is that the Government decided, on 24 June 2014, on the basis of that robust analysis, that both Coillte and Bord na Móna should work towards a partial merger of their businesses, focusing on the areas of overlap between the two companies and that a joint venture between the companies will manage their common business activities in biomass, wind energy, shared services and recreation and tourism. This decision allows Coillte to focus on its core activities in forestry and operating its board mills while allowing the company to harness those areas of synergy it has with Bord na Móna.