I wish a happy Christmas to all of the Deputies in the House, all of those who work here and to the public outside. I wish to ask the Tánaiste a "Christmasy" question.

Does he have his hat?

One of the aspects that I love about Christmas, and I suspect that many do, is the Christmas tree. Most families in this country will have a Christmas tree in their homes. It is like having a little piece of Ireland's woodlands in the sitting room over Christmas. When one is surrounded by family, friends and the community, it is a time around the Christmas tree when people consider those matters that are important.

A matter that might be considered important at this time of year as one looks at one's Christmas tree is the woodlands. They are a part of our heritage and our culture and are a vital resource for the State. People might also wonder whether the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, believes the fairy tale that money grows on Christmas trees. Perhaps it is money that could pay for the property charges that will be imposed on families that will not be able to pay them next year.

Is a question coming?

What is the Deputy's question?

He is nearly there.

Money does not grow on the trees that are in people's front rooms during Christmas.

It might in the Deputy's part of the country.

However, does the Tánaiste agree with me that money and jobs grow on those trees on Coillte lands and that, when our country is being crucified with unemployment, austerity and cuts, it is a crime against the nation that the Government is planning to sell our nation's trees to private interests when those trees could generate thousands of desperately needed jobs and revenue for the State?

This week saw a further 1,000 acres sold. Private interests will make money from the sale of Christmas trees and logs, while industry and jobs that could have been created in the forestry sector will be lost. Will the Tánaiste grant the nation a Christmas wish by undertaking not to give away our woodlands and forests to people who see them only as an opportunity for profit? Will he give a commitment that our forests and woodlands will be retained for the benefit of the citizens of this State?

I am glad that Deputy Boyd Barrett has learnt that money does not grow on trees-----

One could just inherit it.

-----and, second, that we cannot solve our economic problems with fairy tales. I offer him another lesson, which is about distinguishing the wood from the trees or, more particularly, the woodlands from the trees. As the Deputy says, the trees have the potential to generate income for the State. That is why we intend to sell them; otherwise, one does not get money for them. The decision the Government has made is about selling the harvesting rights of trees - we are not selling the trees, woodlands or forests. However, if we want to generate income from the trees which grow in the forest, we have to sell them.

That is why we grow them in the first place.

Yes, that is why we grow them in the first place.

This sounds like an episode from Snow White.

It is called separating the trees from the wood.

The problem is that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, does believe that money grows on trees. Otherwise, he would not expect people who are in mortgage distress, on social welfare or whose incomes have been slashed to pay property charges and endure other cuts to their income. My point is that while money does not grow on the Christmas trees that are in people's front rooms this Christmas, money does grow on the trees on Coillte lands and so do jobs.

Only if the trees are sold.

Leaving aside private interests, even Coillte itself, as it prepares for privatisation, does not actually generate jobs or revenue for the State. What it does is asset-strip our woodlands and sell them off for a song. One need only look to Switzerland, a country half the size of Ireland, to see what can be done.

Will the Deputy put a question to the Tánaiste?

Some 100,000 people are employed on its woodlands compared with 11,000 in Ireland. Those numbers will be further reduced when the Government sells off the trees to private interests which see them only as a cash crop that will make a quick buck. They have no interest in maintaining them as woodlands or developing the woodland industry to create jobs. That is the point I am making.

The Deputy is over time. Will he put a question to the Tánaiste?

It is interesting that one of the companies that is in the bidding to buy our forests is a Swiss bank, a subsidiary of which is headed up by Bertie Ahern.

I ask the Deputy not to make allegations.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is embarrassing his colleagues in the benches in front.

That company understands the value of our forests because it knows how to manage them properly. Why does the Government not keep them in public ownership, to generate the jobs that could put our people back to work, instead of selling them off to asset strippers who want only to cash in and have no intention of creating jobs or revenue for the State?

The main reason, normally, that anybody would grow a crop is to sell it and generate income. That applies to growing trees in the same way it applies to growing corn. The Deputy seems to be having some difficulty in understanding this. Since he is on the subject of public money, I note that he, together with all his Independent colleagues, is in receipt of a payment from the State for research. Given that the Deputy is almost two years in the House, he should have received some €80,000 tax free at this stage. Perhaps he might use that money to do some research on the subject.

It is the same payment the Tánaiste and his colleagues receive under the party allowance.

I do not see much output for that payment. The Deputy is nearly two years in the House and I have not seen a single Private Members' Bill from him anywhere on the Order Paper. I do not know what he is doing with the €80,000 of tax-free money he has received from taxpayers.

That is factually incorrect.

I will make a seasonal suggestion. For the Christmas, he might buy a copy of Little Red Riding Hood. He will learn all he needs to know there about the economics of woodlands.

That concludes Leaders' Questions.