Coillte kept Cabinet ministers and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in the loop about its afforestation plans, managing director of the forestry division Mark Carlin has said.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed yesterday (Tuesday, January 10), that a partnership between Coillte and a UK investment fund to manage about 12,000ha of forestry, did not require his approval.
However, speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning (Wednesday, January 11), Carlin said that the government has been kept informed.
“All the way along, including when Coillte communicated its new strategic vision in April (2022), we’ve kept the ministers and the department involved,” he said.
His comments come after concerns were raised over a new €200 million ‘Irish Strategic Forestry Fund’, which is a partnership between UK-based Gresham House and the state forester.
Under the agreement, Coillte will acquire land, plant and manage forests, while investors in the fund will receive the grants and premia offered by the Irish government as part of the national forestry programme.
However, multiple farm organisations have voiced fears that this could lead to a distortion in the land market and send money that would have been spend in local economies abroad.
But speaking on the programme, Carlin said the new plan “is not meant to be a competition with farmers” and added that farmers, as the biggest landowners, will have “significant opportunity” to benefit.
“This is not about driving up the price of land, it’s not in our interest to try and drive up the price of the thing that we’re trying to acquire in the first place.
“It’s important that farmers play a key role in afforestation going forward. But, it is also important that private companies and the state forester Coillte also get involved,” he added.
The managing director reiterated that the fund’s overall goal is to help Ireland achieve it’s long-term goal of having 18% forest cover, which will entail an additional 450,000ha of new forest.
“Given the scale of that challenge, in terms of the number of hectares of new forest that we need, it’s critically important that we leverage private capital.
“That will be Irish capital but also international capital as well. We’re delighted that the cornerstone investor here is Ireland’s strategic investment fund from NTMA investment and have invested an initial €25 million,” he added
“Typically these will be pension funds that are looking for low-risk and moderate returns over a long period of time. So, that’s who we’re looking to work with here,” he stated.
Carlin also confirmed that the forests will be open to the public for leisure and recreational use.