The government will be urged to consider establishing a new National Forestry Fund for Ireland that could support “sustainable state-approved forestry projects” in the Seanad tomorrow (Wednesday, February 8).
The Seanad Independent Group will put forward a private members business motion tomorrow that will set out the rational for the proposed fund and highlight how it could support farmers.
According to the group a state operated forestry fund could potentially circumvent “Coillte’s issues with funding”.
The semi-state agency, which is supporting the controversial Gresham House forestry fund, previously told the Dáil that it wanted to support the creation of 100,000/ha of new forests by 2050.
But in order to achieve that it would need €2 billion and “access capital to do this”.
Irish Strategic Forestry Fund
In January it emerged that Coillte had entered into “an operational management agreement” with the UK asset management company Gresham House who is behind the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund (ISFF).
The government, particularly ministers in the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, have faced a barrage of criticism about the ISFF.
Minister Charlie McConalogue has repeatedly said that the structure of the deal between Coillte and Gresham House is “not our preferred option”.
National Forest Funds
According to the Seanad Independent Group, National Forest Funds are currently in existence in more than 50 countries and this type of fund could play a key role in helping Ireland grow its forestry sector.
The group also believes that a fund of this nature would also generate “transparency and accountability” by including “relevant stakeholders” from outside the government in their administration.
It will highlight in the Seanad on Wednesday that the sector is worth €2 billion to the economy and is an important employer in rural communities.
A new National Forestry Fund, according to senators, would be “Irish-owned” and would be a vehicle to invest funds in a “range of sustainable state-approved forestry projects”.