Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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414. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will instruct Coillte to provide full and clear ownership and title deeds for Massey's Wood and the Hell Fire Club with regard to the current major development proposal for these sites; if he will instruct Coillte to provide all of the ecological and biodiversity studies and reports, including species lists and so on, that it has commissioned or conducted at these sites; if he will instruct Coillte to furnish its plans regarding ongoing management in respect of the pine weevil issue of the public forest estate when its cypermethrin derogation expires; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40369/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Coillte was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act 1988 and day-to-day operational matters, such as the management of their forest estate, are the responsibility of the company.

The matter was, however, raised with Coillte, who advise that the Masseys Estate, including the Hellfire properties, are registered on Folio DN3540 while the Hell Fire Club is located on property number 28 on Folio DN3540, the title documents of which are available on the website of the Property Registration Authority of Ireland (www.prai.ie). Section 39 of the Forestry Act 1988 provided inter alia that all of the State’s forest estate, other than land designated by the Minister, stand vested in the company. Notwithstanding the vesting of the bulk of the State’s forest estate in Coillte upon its establishment, a lot of the land may still be registered in the name of one of my predecessors e.g. Minister for Lands.  Coillte advise that the company is entitled to act as the registered owner as successor in title to the Minister under the Forestry Act.

In relation to the other material requested, Coillte advise that listed habitats and species relating to these properties, and others within that Business Area Unit (BAU 5), are listed in the relevant BAU Strategic Plan, available on Coillte’s website.

Coillte advised that the company received a derogation for the use of cypermethrin for control of large pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) in certified forest plantations in Ireland, provided that during the derogation period the certificate holder adheres to conditions as set out by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). I am advised that it is Coillte’s policy that cypermethrin will not be applied in the company’s forests from the period at the end of the derogation, March 2021.

The company add that, as the major landowner in the country, it recognises the importance of the responsible use of pesticides in its woodlands and confirms that it will use only those pesticides authorised for use in Ireland by the Pesticides Registration and Control Division (PRCD) of my Department.

Coillte advise that it operates an integrated pest management system with primary reliance upon prevention and biological control methods rather than chemical pesticides, and that it strives to avoid the use of chemical pesticides, by firstly considering control methods other than chemicals.

I am advised by Coillte that the company’s overall strategy for the five year period of the derogation is to develop and adopt prescriptions for control of large pine weevil on evidence based population assessments.  I am also advised that this involves different prescriptions for low, medium and high density population sites where with timing of planting and the pre-treatment of plants in nurseries the use of pesticides on low and medium density populations may not, dependent on ongoing monitoring, be required. On high density population sites Coillte envisage that some form of pesticide application for control of weevil will be required.  I understand that field trials and research are continuing on alternative pesticides (authorised by PRCD) to cypermethrin where focus in this area of research is on pre-treatment that could give two year protection to plants thus eliminating requirement for application in the forest.

Coillte advise me that Ireland, in common with the UK, has weevil population densities of up to seven times that recorded in Europe and that the company work in collaboration with their colleagues in Forest Enterprise Scotland, Forest Enterprise England, Natural Resources Wales and Northern Ireland Forest Service with expertise provided from Forestry Commission Forest Research Branch.  I understand that, over the past number of years, the group established trials to identify alternative treatments for Hylobius, researching and trialling alternative chemicals to cypermethrin, barriers (wax and paper sleeves), biological control through nematodes and non-chemical substance barriers and development of a Hylobius Management Support System.

Coillte further add that it also collaborates with Irish research organisations in order to develop non-chemical pest control products, such as research with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM) on biological control methods like entomopathogenic nematode and entomopathogenic fungi and will continue to review and evaluate non-chemical alternatives as they become available.