102 Deputy Brendan Kenneally asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has received any assurances from Coillte concerning its work in Mount Melleray in County Waterford; if he is confident that the Coillte works did not contribute to the contamination of the local water supply in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46692/10]

Coillte Teoranta was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act, 1988 and day-to-day operational matters, such as harvesting and associated work, is the responsibility of the company.

I understand from Coillte that, in this case, discolouration of water occurred after extremely heavy rainfall and before any extraction work took place in the area feeding the reservoir and that therefore, in their view, the discolouration was not a result of forestry operations. The company also advise that all the extraction routes and felling methods used were agreed with Waterford County Council in advance of harvesting and were planned to prevent any run off in the direction of the reservoir.