Coillte deal is ‘anti-farmer’
Cork County Council has added its voice to a national cry for Government to axe a plan that would see rural Irish land sold to a British investment fund.
The controversial €200m deal between state-owned Irish forestry business Coillte and London-based investment firm Gresham House was struck early last month.
The agreement, which is widely reported to be irrevocable, will see Grisham House acquire approximately 3,500 hectares of farm or other privately owned land for the purpose of creating new forests. In addition, the fund will acquire approximately 8,500 hectares of existing forests.
The plan, called the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund (ISFF), has been heavily criticised at Oireachtas level with many believing it will further increase competition for land, resulting in farmers being unable to compete in the market.
At a meeting of Cork County Council on Monday, Fianna Fáil Cllr Deirdre O’Brien called the plan “anti-farmer and anti-community”.
“Instead of the current investor-lead approach, every Irish farmer should be incentivised to plant a portion of their land with environmentally friendly native woodlands or commercial hardwood through a scheme that recognises a long-term investment,” said Cllr O’Brien.
She added: “It will again pitch farmers against foresters and communities against coniferous.”
Fianna Fáil’s Gobnait Moynihan said: “We were long enough waiting for our land to be handing it over freely like this to a fund.”
Independent Cllr Marcia D’Alton strongly agreed: “I concur with Cllr Moynihan and her sense of pride in our land that we spent so many years fighting for.”
Another major concern raised was the lack of diversity in the trees used in such afforestation projects. Green Party Cllr Alan O’Connor said: “Coillte already operate on a strongly for-profit basis which has seen most of their lands given over to Sitka spruce with sub optimal returns to say the least for biodiversity.
“It's had a detrimental effect on water quality and they may not even serve very well as carbon sinks and may even be net emitters of carbon, particularly in peaty soils.”
Responding to the backlash, Coillte says it is aware of the concerns that have been expressed regarding the ISFF and stated that there has been “a lot of misinformation reported”.
The commercial wood producer said creating new forests is integral to the delivery of Ireland’s climate action targets and that it does not believe that the fund will have an effect on overall land prices in Ireland.
Imelda Hurley, Chief Executive of Coillte, said: “There is an urgent need for Ireland to meet stretching climate action targets and creating new forests is integral to the achievement of these targets. The Government’s national afforestation target is 8,000ha per annum and the long-term target is to achieve 18% forest cover. Currently forest cover in Ireland is 11.6% compared to an EU average of 40%.”