Green Party criticises move to 'disband' Coillte Nature
The Green Party has criticised the move by Coillte to absorb its Coillte Nature division, and questioned how this will impact the state body's targets for biodiversity under the Nature Restoration Law (NRL).
The party said that the decision amounts to a move to "disband" Coillte Nature.
Both the party's leader Roderic O'Gorman (its sole representative in the Dáil), and its former minister of state for nature Malcolm Noonan (now a member of the Seanad) raised this issue this week in their respective houses of the Oireachtas.
"It is confusing that in response to questions posed by Senator Noonan and myself, that Coillte could maintain that this decision was in line with its Strategic Vision 2022 document," O'Gorman said.
"Coillte Nature is specifically referenced in the strategy as having a central role in nature restoration for the company.
"Now it is gone, and it is uncertain as to how the company will meet its biodiversity targets under the Nature Restoration Plan, and what will happen to existing projects such as the Dublin Mountains Makeover Project," the party leader added.
He also claimed the current government "appears to have been caught unaware of the decision".
In the Seanad, Noonan said that a response to his questions from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine "raised more questions than answers".
"The Minister for Agriculture [Food and the Marine] is a shareholder of Coillte. Was he aware of this decision? What will happen to the staff? How will Coillte subsume its Coillte Nature work into Coillte Forests?
"All of these questions remain unanswered," Noonan said.
"Coillte's Forest Division has an important commercial function for the company, providing much needed lumbar and materials for the construction sector," he added.
Noonan questioned how Coillte would integrate nature conservation and restoration into its commercial operations when its "sole focus is to sow, grow and harvest a commercial crop, not to restore nature".
The party leader, O' Gorman, questioned: "Has Coillte learned anything from how it handled the Gresham House deal?"
"To allow its dedicated not-for-profit nature restoration division to just disappear quietly into the night is of concern to us and to everyone concerned about restoring nature.
"Minister [for Agriculture Martin Heydon] and Minster [of State for forestry Michael Healy-Rae] must seek answers from Coillte to the issues that we have raised here today and demand that Coillte outline how exactly it plans to embed nature restoration and conservation into its Forest Division, and if this will require a new strategy statement in light of this change in direction," O' Gorman added.
