Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2013
103. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his input to the proposed sale of Coillte's harvesting rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15000/13]
View answerWe are back on Coillte.
We are staying on Coillte.
As a member of the Government I have been involved in all stages of the decision-making process to date in respect of the proposed sale of Coillte's harvesting rights. From the outset, following the publication of the report of the review group on State assets and liabilities in April 2011, I was engaged as the relevant Minister to ascertain the value of Coillte and its various assets. I began this through my initial engagement with Deloitte on a pro bono basis to examine the recommendations in the McCarthy report as they applied to my Department, including Coillte.
I have emphasised throughout the process the importance of making an informed decision in respect of the disposal of State assets and the Government has been proceeding with caution in respect of the consideration of the disposal of Coillte assets. This resulted in the Government decision in February 2012 that consideration would be given to the sale of some assets of Coillte, excluding the sale of land. The exclusion of the sale of land from the process was to address industry and public concerns expressed to me and my colleagues, and my colleagues concur with my views in this regard.
The most recent development in this regard was the decision by the Government last summer that a concession for the harvesting rights to Coillte forests be considered for sale. The context and background to this decision was outlined by my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and myself in the recent two-evening debate on the Private Members' motion for which Deputy Boyd Barrett was largely responsible.
As I stated in the debate, my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and NewERA in conjunction with Coillte are examining the financial and other implications of developing the potential of Coillte's forestry assets. This work encompasses the identification of the forestry assets involved, the determination of their value and the consideration of several issues associated with the proposed sale of the harvesting rights. All of this work is being undertaken to inform the consideration of the Government on the sale of harvesting rights.
I must interrupt the Minister there. The rest of the reply will appear in the Official Report.
We are proceeding with caution. Nothing is being rushed. I will be bringing a recommendation to Government on this within months if not weeks. Certainly, we understand the concerns across the broader timber industry in respect of proceeding.
We have an obligation to look at the potential of all State assets and the appropriateness of their sale. We will give our full consideration to this asset and when the Government has had an opportunity to discuss and decide on the recommendations, I, in conjunction with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, will bring to the Cabinet, we will come back for a full debate.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
A steering group comprising representatives of NewERA, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and my Department was formed to monitor the analysis process. This group has met regularly and also formally met Coillte and representatives of the Coillte trade unions and the Irish Timber Council. I am regularly briefed by my officials on progress and the points of concern expressed at such meetings. I addressed a number of these concerns, including public access to Coillte lands and the crucial importance of Coillte for the country’s timber industry, in my contribution to the Private Members' debate last month. As I have said previously, the decision will be taken by the Cabinet when either the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform or I, or, more likely, both of us, have brought a report and recommendation to the Government, at which time it will be discussed and a decision made.
As the Minister knows and I have made clear, even considering a plan for selling State forests is repugnant and should be abandoned. Will the Minister give straight answers to my questions? As I understand it, he committed to selling the harvesting rights to the troika, but he now says he is considering it. Is that a change?
I am not selling anything to the troika.
Under the troika programme, the Minister committed to selling the Coillte harvesting rights. Is that true? If he now says he is considering this, does this mean he is backtracking on that commitment or that there is a possibility of changing the agreement with the troika? The lack of information and transparency around the proposed or considered sale of the harvesting rights stinks to high heaven. There is no information on the value of the harvesting rights. In recent years some €108 million worth of forestry has been sold, most of which we believe has been sold to banks. Why was that forestry sold and to whom was it sold? What conditions surrounded these sales in maintaining the sustainability of Irish forestry?
The Glennon sawmills indicated that 1.5 million cu. m of forest were cut down last year, although the forest strategy stated sustainable forestry would be based on a maximum of 1 million cu. m and guaranteed replanting of 25,000 ha. We cannot obtain information on how many hectares have been replanted, but I understand only 5,000 acres have. This suggests we are already in a situation where there is deforestation or unsustainable forestry production. Can we have the facts? Where are the annual reports of the forest service? What happened to the review of Irish forestry initiated by the previous Government and abandoned by the current Government? What valuations are being made of harvesting rights? Without this information and proper public consultation - we do not even know what the Minister is considering selling - we cannot work out whether the sale of harvesting rights represents asset stripping.
With all due respect, this is not the Deputy's decision alone. The Government is assessing all of the issues outlined by him. In fact, multiple assessments are being made in the valuation of timber and harvesting rights. However, just because we have not yet given that information to the Deputy which will be the basis of a Government decision does not mean the work is not being done. We are not going to release all of our information and have a debate that is only semi-informed. What we are going to do is make an assessment on the basis of a Government decision to look seriously at the sale of harvesting rights. That process is under way and close to a conclusion. Once all of these questions are answered, it will be my responsibility to go back to the Government for a policy decision and once that decision is made, we will bring it to this House for scrutiny, which is the appropriate way to do things and make decisions. At that time all of the information will be available. Information on many of the questions the Deputy has asked is available, for example, on Coillte's accounts, what it sold and to whom it was sold. Much of the sale of harvesting rights in the past ten years happened under a previous Government and I was involved in the committee that questioned Coillte about these sales. Therefore, there has been significant discussion of this issue.
With regard to afforestation, Coillte does not become involved in significant afforestation. What it does is replant land that has been harvested because it is obliged to do so by law.
The afforestation programme in Ireland, in terms of extra forest land, is by and large happening through the private sector, which is planting approximately 7,000 ha this year. It is one of the few areas in which my Department has seen no cuts over the last two budgets. This Government is committed to increasing the amount of forestation in Ireland because we think it is the right thing to do. We will continue to support the forestry sector in a proactive way. We will make our decisions with regard to Coillte in that context.
There is no proper information on these areas.
On what?
For example, why have so many harvesting rights been sold by Coillte in recent years? Was there a tendering process in each of those cases, as required under EU law? What conditions applied to those sales? These are serious questions, particularly given that one of the main beneficiaries of those sales was the Irish Forestry Unit Trust, which consists of Bank of Ireland, AIB and Irish Life. We know that banks like the Chinese state bank, the Swiss banks and possibly the Irish banks are lining up to take over our State forests. The Minister referred to the planting of 7,000 ha, but the forest strategy says we should be planting 25,000 ha.
Our target is 14,000 ha.
Not according to the website of the Forest Service, which I looked at today.
The Deputy should read the programme for Government.
The Forest Service does not produce proper annual reports. According to its website, the target is 25,000 ha. The Minister has said that the current rate of planting is 7,000 ha. We have evidence that 1.5 million cu. m of forests have been cut down. When all of that is added together, it is clear that we have deforestation in this country. We are not meeting our targets. We need a comprehensive analysis of this. I am not the only person who wants to know what is going on. All sorts of stakeholders want to know. All of this information should be in the public domain. Why are we not organising an independent assessment like that done in the UK, with open and transparent public consultation as part of the process? When that happened in the UK, the plan was abandoned.
I suggest that the Deputy should attend the next meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine at which representatives of Coillte are in attendance to ask them some of these questions. They have been at that forum on a number of occasions in recent months. All of these questions have been asked and answered. Perhaps the Deputy should inform himself by talking to management representatives of the company at that forum, instead of coming in here to try to raise all sorts of concerns about issues he feels are not being addressed.
These questions are coming from people in the forestry sector.
Yes. It is clear that this Government would like to plant more trees. We would have to pay for that. My Department spends approximately €110 million per annum on afforestation and forestry premiums. That expenditure is not co-financed from Europe or anywhere else. That significant commitment has not decreased as reductions have had to be imposed on the rest of the budget. My expenditure ceilings have decreased significantly. If and when we can afford to spend more on afforestation, we will do so. The programme for Government contains an ambition to increase afforestation to 14,000 ha per annum. This country is way behind most other European countries in terms of forest cover. While we have made a commitment in this regard, the only money we can spend is the money I am allowed to spend under the expenditure ceilings within which I have to operate. We need to deal with the real world as with the facts as they are.
