Coillte was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act, 1988, and day-to-day operational matters, such as the Coillte Farm Partnership Scheme, are the responsibility of the company.
The company has provided my Department with a general update on farm partnerships. Coillte has a farm partnership portfolio of 644 farm partnerships, which accounts for over 12,000 hectares of highly productive forests. Coillte’s farm partnership forests are well-managed to create sustainable, valuable assets for both the farm partner and Coillte. The vast majority of these partnerships are working well, and a number of Coillte’s farm partnerships have been award-winning - including the RDS forestry awards - for the sustainable management of their forests.
Coillte has also advised my Department that it works with all its farm partners to resolve any issues they may have. However, in a small number of cases, farm partners have raised issues such as poor communication and transparency of information. Coillte has worked hard to improve engagement and address any concerns raised.
Notwithstanding this progress, there are a small number of farm partners who have signed a submission to arbitration, which is the dispute mechanism within the contract agreements. Coillte shares concerns around the prolonged nature, and indeed the cost, of the arbitration process. However, the progress of an arbitration rests with the legal representatives of both partners, and the parties are bound by the terms of the arbitration once a partner has initiated this process.
As part of Coillte’s continual improvements to the overall management of the farm partnership portfolio, they recently communicated to each farm partner further improvements around engagement and data sharing.
I am satisfied that any issues will be resolved in due course, through the appropriate channels, and that it should be left now to both partners in the agreements to resolve them together.
