Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 6 Mar 1996

Vol. 462 No. 6

Written Answers. - Complaints Against Companies.

Mary O'Rourke

Question:

125 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the complaints, if any, he has received regarding the operation of a firm (details supplied); if so, the investigations he has made; the action, if any, he intends to take to help people who have lost considerable sums of money in these transactions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5224/96]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

I have received a number of complaints by and on behalf of people who are unhappy with the outcome to their dealings with the companies in question. The individuals concerned had entered into contracts with the companies in question, covering the planting and ultimate purchase of Christmas trees on their lands. The financial benefits which they had anticipated when they signed these contracts were not realised.

This situation presents a number of difficulties in so far as the options available to me are concerned. First, the matters in dispute are governed by private contracts, to which I am not a party, between the landowners and the companies in question. Second, the planting of Christmas trees is not grant-assisted by my Department. In so far as Christmas trees are concerned, I do not therefore have the means afforded me by grant-assisted forestry to impose and ensure compliance with requirements as regards the establishment and maintenance of plantations. Third, the Forestry Acts do not provide me with a basis for intervening in cases such as this.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, I obviously wish to take any steps available to me to ensure that farmers and other landowners who might in future contemplate entering into such contracts are more fully informed as to the establishment, growth, maintenance, eventual yields, etc. of Christmas tree plantations. The objective should be to equip such persons with the means of arriving at reasonable expectations and of evaluating, before they enter into any commitments, whether contracts which they might be offered are likely to meet those expectations.

I am asking the Forest Service of my Department to draw up an information sheet on the planting, growing, maintenance, etc. of Christmas trees which I intend to publish and to distribute through a variety of channels in due course. In the meantime, I would advise any landowners who are offered contracts for the growing and eventual purchase of Christmas trees on their land to take the greatest possible care with regard to the terms of such contracts and preferably to seek professional advice before signing any such contract.