Ministers meet with Coillte to discuss controversial forestry deal
Coillte's deal with British investment fund Gresham House is expected to result in the planting of 3,500 hectares of new forests over the next five years, ministers have been told.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett met with senior representatives of Coillte this afternoon.
This comes after the recent announcement that Gresham House alongside Coillte has launched a new fund to allow Irish and international investors to fund forestry in Ireland.
The Department of Agriculture said this afternoon that Coillte outlined to the ministers its intention that the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund will plant an average of 700 hectares of new forests across each of the next five years.
The total area of new forests planted through the fund is expected to deliver roughly 3.5% of the 100,000 hectares of new forests Coillte has committed to enabling by 2050.
According to the department, 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.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that farmers will be central to the success of the overall forestry strategy.
"The Government has been clear in its policy direction through the design of the Forestry Programme and the Climate Action Plan that farmers will have the biggest opportunity to deliver on our forestry targets, and to benefit from our forestry payments," he said on Thursday afternoon.
"In addition to the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund, we have asked Coillte to consider the range of models it will use to deliver on its targets for new forest creation between now and 2050 including potentially working more closely with farmers or acquiring land directly in a way that supports the environment, the rural economy, and farm family incomes."
Mr McConalogue added that farmers are "at the heart" of the new programme, and in addition to single farm payments on afforested land which other landowners will not receive, farmers will be paid 20 years of premium under the new programme, compared to other landowners who will receive 15 years of payments.
Minister of State Pippa Hackett said that this is a "hugely exciting time" for Irish forestry.
"Our targets for new forest creation are ambitious, as they should be, and Coillte has committed to playing its part by delivering 100,000 hectares out of our total national target of 450,000 hectares by 2050," Ms Hackett said.
"With the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund targeting to deliver 3,500 hectares of afforestation over five years, this represents a small yet important step towards achieving the nation’s afforestation target.
Speaking after the meeting, the ministers said that Coillte has a "critical role to play in meeting our ambitious forestry plans".
"We heard today how the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund is one of a number of models Coillte will deploy in contributing to our overall forestry targets," the ministers said.
"There is also potential for Coillte to deliver new forests at scale on public land, and in this 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.”
Since the announcement of the Coillte and Gresham House partnership, farmers have been expressing fears about it distorting the land market in Ireland.
Speaking this week on the deal, Macra na Feirme agricultural affairs committee chair Liam Hanrahan said that "this is not the correct approach for the expansion of forestry in Ireland, and it will have a negative impact on generational renewal and access to land for young farmers".
Mr Hanrahan said that a UK investment fund "putting further pressures on an already highly inflated land market will have major consequences for land mobility and access to land for young farmers".
"This will put further pressure on land prices and the ability of young farmers to access the finances required," he added.
