The Taoiseach will be aware of a situation in Riverstick, County Cork, where a large section of publicly owned forestry is for sale by Coillte.

Ballymartle Woods is an incredibly important local amenity and biodiverse environment that is used by the community for recreation and by schools for education. A group of residents showed me the beautiful mature mixed forest on Monday. There is considerable local opposition to the sale and at a time when the State needs to drastically increase its afforestation, it is unbelievable that a large section of this wood or any other woodland would be on the market.

There is a pressing need for the Government to have a stronger role in cases such as this. Can the Taoiseach assure the residents of Riverstick and Belgooly that the Government will protect Ballymartle Woods and others?

Coillte, as the Deputy will be aware, is independent in terms of its operational duties. It has an obligation to report to the Minister in terms of any projects or whatever like that.

Apparently, this is in relation to an approach in terms of creating a woodland accommodation and recreational offering. I am assured that existing walking trails in Ballymartle Forest, which are very popular with locals, would remain open to the public and would be completely unaffected were this sale to proceed.

My own view is, generally speaking, given climate change and so on, that we need to do everything possible we can to preserve the existing woodlands that we have. I am not aware of the full background to this specific case in terms of the engagement Coillte is having with other interested parties but my view is that we need to protect, as the bottom line, all our native woodlands in terms of contributing to our climate change agenda.