Coillte and Gresham House deal
Deputy Ivana Bacik opposed the proposed Coillte-Gresham House deal, arguing the State should not allow foreign investors to profit from public forestry assets. The Taoiseach said EU state-aid rules were being examined and stressed the need for more trees, especially through farmers planting.
I want to raise the proposed €200 million deal between Coillte and UK investment fund, Gresham House. It is incomprehensible to us in the Labour Party why a State body is going to do all the work while foreign investors will be able to reap financial profits. We have seen across other sectors, including housing, healthcare and education, our society suffering the consequences of an over-reliance on the private sector. Childcare is another case in point. The Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss recently made clear that State-owned woodlands should be recognised and managed as a strategic long-term national asset for the benefit of the common good. We think the State should take control of planting biodiverse forests and put an end to the expanse of clear-fell monoculture across the island of Ireland. Will we see some move from Government to halt the sell-off and to ensure Coillte will be able to make use of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine forestry payments? I understand the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has indicated a belief that the rules will be changed, but will we see the rules on state aid change to ensure that aim of the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss will be carried out?
Comment on this
As the Deputy knows, state aid rules are a European matter, but we are examining the state aid rules to see what can and cannot be done. It is 20 years since the particular court judgment was handed down. The State is, and will be, planting trees on public land for all sorts of purposes. We need trees for timber to build all those houses we need. We also need trees to act as a carbon sink, for biodiversity and leisure. We need different types of trees for different purposes. The mainstay of our forestry programme will be Irish farmers choosing to plant trees and more trees. We are going to incentivise them to do so.
To pick up on something the Deputy said, there is no sell-off when it comes to the Irish strategic forest fund. No public land will be privatised. This is a fund part-owned by the State through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, which is a minority investor in the fund, that will buy private land. It is not the case that there is any sell-off here. That is just incorrect.