A government letter to Coillte last June directing the state forestry body to “develop initiatives” for afforestation “exposes its complicity” in the joint venture between Coillte and Gresham House, according to Sinn Féin.
Matt Carthy, the party’s spokesperson on agriculture, was speaking after receiving an answer to a parliamentary question outlining the fact that such a letter – referred to as a ‘shareholder letter of expectation’ – had been issued to Coillte on June 2.
Coillte is semi-state body, and thus the state (represented by the government of the day) is a shareholder in the company.
In response to a number of parliamentary questions from various Oireachtas members, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue said that the letter directed Coillte to “develop initiatives to support and realise the planting of…forests…whether as part of their core business or as participants in a subsidiary or partnership enterprise”.
Commenting on this letter, Carthy claimed: “Not only were the government aware of Coillte’s plans to enter into a joint venture with a British investment fund, they gave it the mandate, through a shareholder letter of expectation, to seal the deal.
“It is clear that this shareholder letter of expectation was the government go-ahead to Coillte to pursue an approach that led to the Gresham House deal,” he added.
According to the Cavan-Monaghan TD, there are “serious questions” for the government.
“These questions include precisely who in government was aware of the letter of expectation and whether a new letter will now issue to ensure that Coillte does not pursue further ventures of this kind.”
Sinn Féin has placed a motion before the Dáil this week seeking for the joint venture between Coillte and Gresham House to be scraped.
“The deal is bad for the environment, for communities, and for farmers. It will see tens of millions of Irish taxpayers’ euros being used to subsidise a land grab,” Carthy said.
“It is not good enough for government to simply not oppose our motion. They must act on it,” he added.
In an answer to a previous parliamentary question from independent TD Carol Nolan, Minister McConalogue said that the deal was an “operational matter” for Coillte and they were under no obligation to seek consent from the government before progressing with the deal.
The minister said that the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund – the name of the joint venture between Coillte and Gresham House – became operational on December 18, and that he was informed that week of some of its details.