Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 January 2023
207. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if clarification will be provided on the proposed sale of lands by Coillte (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3443/23]
View answer214. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine at what point his Department began to engage with an organisation (details supplied) on the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3733/23]
View answer215. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if Coillte employed an open tender process for partnership on the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund before partnering with an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3734/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 207, 214 and 215 together.
The Deputy has raised a number of operational questions on this Investment Fund. As Coillte is operationally independent of the Department, I have referred these to Coillte for direct response to the Deputy.
On the broader issues, let me again highlight that this Government has committed €1.3 billion to the new Forestry Programme. The primary aim of the Programme is to enable Ireland to use its potential for afforestation to help meet its national emission reduction and biodiversity obligations while, at the same time, supporting the forestry sector and farm families. This is biggest and best-funded Forestry Programme ever introduced by any Government here, and it has been designed to ensure that farmers will be its primary beneficiaries.
There is also a role for Coillte in helping to achieve our ambitious afforestation targets, and the new Forestry Programme will provide for this too.
Coillte advised the Department of its intention to increase its afforestation during the development of their new Forestry Strategic Vision, which was launched on 21st April 2022. A Shareholder Letter of Expectation issued to Coillte on 2nd June 2022 which included a direction to the Company to “develop initiatives to support and realise the planting of such forests to a meaningful scale in the years ahead, whether as part of their core business or as participants in a subsidiary or partnership enterprise”. Prior to this there was ongoing contact between Coillte and the Ministers in the Department as well as our officials dating back to 2021 as they updated on the development of their Strategy. While the detail of an Investment Fund was not finalised or discussed in detail, Coillte indicated that it would be an enabler of new afforestation through the Coillte Nature initiative for planting native woodlands and through their involvement in Afforestation Funds focussed on commercial forestry.
As I have previously outlined, the question of consent or approval by the shareholders does not arise in relation to Coillte’s role in providing services to the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund. It is an operational matter for Coillte and they were under no obligation to seek consent. My understanding is that the Fund became operational on 18th December 2022. A public announcement was made on 8th January.
I understand from Coillte that Gresham House Asset Management Ltd. was identified as the preferred partner to raise capital, (and to manage such capital in line with all Central Bank and other relevant regulations), through a competitive, independent process.
Coillte will not sell any existing publicly owned forests to the fund, nor will Coillte seek to purchase any other public land on behalf of the fund. Any land purchased by the fund will already be in private ownership, and no private landowner will be forced to sell land to the fund. The scale of the new planting envisaged is such that Coillte does not expect the establishment of the fund to have an impact on the price of farmland, nor indeed is it in any way in the interest of Coillte or the fund to drive up land prices at a time that they are seeking to acquire land.
Senior representatives of Coillte met with myself and Minister Hackett on 19th January and outlined their intention that the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund will plant an average of 700 hectares of new forests across each of the next five years. They advised that the total area of new forests planted through the fund will deliver roughly 3.5% of the 100,000 hectares of new forests Coillte has committed to enabling by 2050. Of the State’s overall national target of 450,000 hectares of new forests by 2050, the fund will plant less than 1% of that total. They further outlined that the Fund is one of a number of models Coillte will deploy in contributing to the States overall forestry targets. There is also potential for Coillte to deliver new forests at scale on public land and in the context we are encouraged by the progress Coillte is making in engaging with local authorities and state bodies to identify land that is already in public ownership and suitable for forestry.
