Coillte deal amounts to ‘land grab’ - SF’s Carthy

A deal between Irish forestry business Coillte and British investment firm, Gresham House, has been labelled “scandalous” and a “land grab” by those opposing the deal.

The fund is set to plant an average of 700 hectares of new forests over the next five years.

The deal could see up to 12,000 hectares of land and forest being sold to Gresham House.

Coillte, a semi-state agency, has pledged to plant 100,000 hectares of new forests by 2050, the British investors would account for 3.5 per cent of these new forests.

Speaking during a recent Dáil debate on the Climate Action Plan, Cavan Monaghan TD and Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture, Matt Carthy, has accused the government of standing by and watching the process despite knowing about it in advance.

“In an all-too-familiar story, the answer of this government appears to be to facilitate the sale of thousands of hectares of Irish land to a British investment vehicle.

“We are told that the Green Party Minister of State knew as far back as March 2021 of Coillte’s plans to use such a private vehicle to acquire lands.”

Deputy Carthy also called on the government to instruct Coillte to stop the proposed joint venture with Gresham House saying the British company’s sole aim is generating money.

“The Minister for Agriculture is the shareholder, on behalf of the Irish people, in Coillte. He can, and he should instruct Coillte to immediately stall this plan.

“And government can and should state categorically that it will not permit the use of €2 billion of Irish taxpayer’s money to be used to facilitate this land-grab,” insisted Deputy Carthy.

“The joint venture is not about Climate, it’s not even about forestry, Gresham House has confirmed that 8,000 hectares of their Irish portfolio will be existing forestry land, as little as 3,000 hectares will bare land for new tree-planting.

For Gresham House this venture is simply about corporate profit,” he added.

Coillte has also confirmed it is not working on any further partnerships with funds following a meeting with the IFA.

IFA Farm Forestry chair Jason Fleming said: “Coillte did confirm that they were not working on any further projects with private funds.”

He said that more farmer-friendly solutions are needed to address Ireland’s forestry shortage.

“Coillte and the Government need to go back to the drawing board and provide assurances to farmers and rural communities that alternative farmer-based solutions will be identified to support the national afforestation target being met,” said Mr Fleming.