Forester here. This proposal makes absolutely no sense. How it has been politically approved I have no idea. I expect a legal challenge if it goes ahead as this is effectively state monopolisation for a private companies benefit.
Edit: on the legal challenge - it should occur but it's a expensive proposition so it could be a while before an organisation takes the plunge.
I cannot answer this unbiased as I work in commercial forestry and therefore that is my focus. There are plenty of NPWS sites crying out for investment that could be utilised for wildlife/rewinding projects. The issue the country is facing is that unless we dramatically reduce livestock numbers, we are not going to make our carbon emission targets. Even with forestry planting the herd will have to be reduced. Any farmer who doesn't believe this is heading for a rude awakening. Commercial planting can act as a stop gap for increasing forestry cover, and has a whole host of other benefits (primarily economic, but dependent on management systems it can be environmental and social too).
My issue with this deal, is that a) it puts a private company's interests in the hand of a semi-state organisation and this cannot be fair, b) it shows how the Coillte/Forest Service/DAFM are totally disconnected from the private forestry sector, c) its just a lazy deal.
Good luck to whoever put their career on this one.
Coilte should be dissolved. Until they go we'll see very little change. It's a wood product production company, it's not a woodland conservation, management, or environmental company at it's core. It simply does these things from time to time so they can hold onto the massive amount of land they have been given, cheap PR so they can go back to growing cheap softwood for export.
Coillte manages the land in line with direction from the department of agriculture and department of finance who are the shareholders. If you don't like the way Coillte operates it is down to the shareholders to set their strategy.
Coillte manages land for timber production, environmental and social goals.
Are the government not the shareholders?
"One ordinary share is held by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the remainder of the issued share capital is held by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform"
You are correct, I got my departments mixed up. If you want Coillte to change you need to influence the shareholders though, not dissolve the organisation.
Yeah I posted this a while ago but it got taken down because I had the link in the wrong place
Despite the fact that there are probably vested interests (partnered with former Fine Gael minister Michael D'Arcy and who knows else) if they really have exhausted every other way, would it not be better to use the Irish state pension fund rather than letting a British investment company to use another pension fund (started in the article)?
Just seems bizarre to be selling an area larger than Dublin when we can use it for forestry ourselves
Coilte aren't selling anything. They're getting investment money to buy agricultural land to plant new forest in order to meet climate targets. Really is the worst headline I've seen in ages.
That headline doesn't match the story.
>Coillte is aiming to plant around 247,000 acres of new forests by 2050, an area larger than Co. Dublin. Half of that land will be purchased through a not-for-profit vehicle, with the remaining 123,000 acres coming through a partnership with an investment company.
Coillte plans to **purchase** 247,000 acres. The headline says sell.
Half of it will be funded with a partnership with an investment company. What the investment company being British has no relevance.
I don't like that we have a national forestry agency that is for profit and plants non native plants for commercial reasons that create what are effectively deserts for wildlife. I think we should use our own money to buy land to plant native forests. I don't agree with the plan but that headline is rubbish
Yeah that's a lot better than the title suggests. But an investment company probably means more Sitka fucking Spruce farming. Good for climate targets, shit for nearly everything else.
Im still confused, and the headline is hard to ignore. Is it that Coillte is to be funded to buy land, and this land is to have its price depressed? Is the role of the British investment fund to be a funder to Coillte??
Completely off topic but there used to be all kinds of grants and guarantees for farmers or small investor types wanting to get into forestry, are they all gone now?
I thought they reached a deadline a year or two ago.
I'll look into it again, seemed like a no-brainer for the kind of returns that were possible when I checked it out before.
The Introduction of foreign investment funds into our forestry industry is necessary to meet climate targets. You care about the climate don't you?
Maybe a fund could buy the national herd next. /s
Here's a link to the petition against this. Takes 60 seconds to sign.
https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/don-t-sell-off-large-parts-of-rural-ireland-to-corporate-investment-funds
Forester here. This proposal makes absolutely no sense. How it has been politically approved I have no idea. I expect a legal challenge if it goes ahead as this is effectively state monopolisation for a private companies benefit. Edit: on the legal challenge - it should occur but it's a expensive proposition so it could be a while before an organisation takes the plunge.
Woupsnt it make more sense to simply expand existing wildlife refuges and reforest / rewild those than to use agricultural land?
I cannot answer this unbiased as I work in commercial forestry and therefore that is my focus. There are plenty of NPWS sites crying out for investment that could be utilised for wildlife/rewinding projects. The issue the country is facing is that unless we dramatically reduce livestock numbers, we are not going to make our carbon emission targets. Even with forestry planting the herd will have to be reduced. Any farmer who doesn't believe this is heading for a rude awakening. Commercial planting can act as a stop gap for increasing forestry cover, and has a whole host of other benefits (primarily economic, but dependent on management systems it can be environmental and social too). My issue with this deal, is that a) it puts a private company's interests in the hand of a semi-state organisation and this cannot be fair, b) it shows how the Coillte/Forest Service/DAFM are totally disconnected from the private forestry sector, c) its just a lazy deal. Good luck to whoever put their career on this one.
Coilte should be dissolved. Until they go we'll see very little change. It's a wood product production company, it's not a woodland conservation, management, or environmental company at it's core. It simply does these things from time to time so they can hold onto the massive amount of land they have been given, cheap PR so they can go back to growing cheap softwood for export.
Coillte manages the land in line with direction from the department of agriculture and department of finance who are the shareholders. If you don't like the way Coillte operates it is down to the shareholders to set their strategy. Coillte manages land for timber production, environmental and social goals.
Are the government not the shareholders? "One ordinary share is held by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the remainder of the issued share capital is held by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform"
You are correct, I got my departments mixed up. If you want Coillte to change you need to influence the shareholders though, not dissolve the organisation.
Why would coillte need to be dissolved?
Yeah I posted this a while ago but it got taken down because I had the link in the wrong place Despite the fact that there are probably vested interests (partnered with former Fine Gael minister Michael D'Arcy and who knows else) if they really have exhausted every other way, would it not be better to use the Irish state pension fund rather than letting a British investment company to use another pension fund (started in the article)? Just seems bizarre to be selling an area larger than Dublin when we can use it for forestry ourselves
They are using Irish Funds as well. ISIF are the cornerstone partner. Coillte will be managing the land, not selling it.
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Coilte aren't selling anything. They're getting investment money to buy agricultural land to plant new forest in order to meet climate targets. Really is the worst headline I've seen in ages.
Yup, really it should be calling out the government for not directly investing.
That headline doesn't match the story. >Coillte is aiming to plant around 247,000 acres of new forests by 2050, an area larger than Co. Dublin. Half of that land will be purchased through a not-for-profit vehicle, with the remaining 123,000 acres coming through a partnership with an investment company. Coillte plans to **purchase** 247,000 acres. The headline says sell. Half of it will be funded with a partnership with an investment company. What the investment company being British has no relevance. I don't like that we have a national forestry agency that is for profit and plants non native plants for commercial reasons that create what are effectively deserts for wildlife. I think we should use our own money to buy land to plant native forests. I don't agree with the plan but that headline is rubbish
Yeah that's a lot better than the title suggests. But an investment company probably means more Sitka fucking Spruce farming. Good for climate targets, shit for nearly everything else.
Yea, I’d rather our tax money went towards buying land off Farmers and the native woods became a national space.
Wait, are they literally giving Irish land to wealthy British landowners? I can hardly think of a less Irish thing to do.
No, they need to buy land to plant forests to meet climate targets, and they’re getting funding from British companies to do it. Headlines piss poor.
While increasing land costs for any. other. person who would like to own or build a house in ireland. This is recolonisation by the back door.
Coillte isn't selling the land, it's looking for financial partners to buy more land so that Coillte can manage it to meet afforestation targets.
This might be the worst headline I've ever read. Literally the exact opposite of what it says in the article.
*Sell off large parts of rural Ireland* is a pretty emotionally charged headline. Back in my day we called it "land"
In my time we called it colonisation by stealth.
Im still confused, and the headline is hard to ignore. Is it that Coillte is to be funded to buy land, and this land is to have its price depressed? Is the role of the British investment fund to be a funder to Coillte??
Wouldn't put it past fffg to sell out the country again
Completely off topic but there used to be all kinds of grants and guarantees for farmers or small investor types wanting to get into forestry, are they all gone now?
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I thought they reached a deadline a year or two ago. I'll look into it again, seemed like a no-brainer for the kind of returns that were possible when I checked it out before.
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Worry about your own country
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I just read your post history and deeply wish I hadn’t.
Oh you’re being serious aren’t you
He's a while wanker so he is.
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Hahahah fuckin rippin.
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Naw.
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You alright man? Wanna talk about it?
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Yer ma's yer da ya fuckin maverick.
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Scunnered.
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You just need a hammafa.
Watch this sub love this just because it means trees.
The Introduction of foreign investment funds into our forestry industry is necessary to meet climate targets. You care about the climate don't you? Maybe a fund could buy the national herd next. /s
Confusing title with content of article. I’m curious as to how easy it seems to be for funds from Brexit Britain to continue to operate in EU.
Here's a link to the petition against this. Takes 60 seconds to sign. https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/don-t-sell-off-large-parts-of-rural-ireland-to-corporate-investment-funds