Ireland’s national forester Coillte will attend a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the coming weeks, Agriland can confirm.
Fianna Fáil TD and chair of the committee, Jackie Cahill, confirmed that the committee extended the invitation to the semi-state agency to discuss its controversial deal with the UK-based investment fund Gresham House.
He said that the decision was made to invite the agency in following a private discussion among members, all of whom “were eager to invite the organisation in”.
Coillte is under no obligation to accept the invitation said the deputy, who added that he “would be very anxious to chat to Coillte” and that “it would not look very good if a semi-state agency refused to speak to a government committee”.
However, in a statement, the forester said:
“Coillte confirms it will be attending a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the coming weeks.”
Deputy Cahill confirmed that a committee meeting with Coillte would focus on the agreement with Gresham House, known as the controversial Irish Strategic Forestry Fund (ISFF).
He said that committee members will also be seeking further detail on Coillte’s financial operations.
The planned meeting comes after the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State with responsibility for forestry Pippa Hackett attended a meeting of the committee last week, which lasted four and a half hours.
Both ministers were subject to intense questioning from TDs and backbenchers at the meeting, during which Minister McConalogue said that the structure of the agreement was not the government’s “preferred option”, but that he only became aware of it “when the deal was done”.
The agriculture minister also confirmed that Coillte has sought permission to invest €10 million in the ISFF.
He said that the request is currently under review by NewERA, the authority that provides financial and commercial advice to the government.
It was previously confirmed that the state-owned Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) has already invested €25 million in the ISFF. Responding to strong criticism around this, Minister McConalogue stated that Coillte and the ISIF had “entered into binding contractual arrangements”.
He also emphasised that his department was not a signatory on the deal between Gresham House and Coillte.