Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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960. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the funding allocated to Coillte in 2022 and 2023; the staffing levels for WTE and PTE staff; and the staffing costs in 2022 and 2023, in tabular form. [27779/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Coillte is a private commercial company established under the Forestry Act 1988 which operates in forestry and related activities and does not receive funding from the Exchequer by way of subvention or grant-in-aid. In relation to staffing levels and costs, I have referred those matters to Coillte for direct follow-up with the Deputy.

While my Department does not directly fund Coillte, they may apply under specific Department funded schemes from time to time, in accordance with EU State-Aid rules. These include grants for afforestation and for approved applications under forestry support schemes aimed at improving the resilience and environmental value of forest ecosystems, such as the Native Woodland Conservation and the Woodland Improvement Schemes.

Furthermore, under the not-for-profit Coillte Nature initiative to create native woodlands and restore habitats in order to enhance ecosystem services, my Department intends to fund a collaborative scheme between Coillte and Bord na Mona for the establishment of native woodlands on cutaway industrial bogs and has also committed funding to Coillte's Wild Western Peatlands Project, which aims to restore and rehabilitate approximately 2,100 hectares of Atlantic blanket bog and heathland that is currently planted with lodgepole pine and Sitka spruce forests.

The following payments have issued from my Department to Coillte in 2022 and to date in 2023.