This article is from page 18 of the 2012-01-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
HUNDREDS of acres of Clare forestry have been siphoned out of public ownership in the past three years, according to the East Clare-based Woodland League.
According to Coillte’s own end-ofyear accounts for 2009, € 33 million worth of forestry has been transferred from the forestry company to a number of forestry “funds”, with the majority going to the Irish Forestry Unit Trust (IFORUT).
This trust was established by Coillte itself, alongside AIB and Irish Life in 1994. At present, little is known about the internal workings of the fund but the Woodland League believe that details of the fund should be made open to Freedom of Information Requests, following the substantial investment made by the State in both the AIB and Irish Life.
“We should know what is going on with these forests but we don’t. Our forestry in this country is being dictated by pension funds and that has been the case for the past 15 years. And all of this has happened away from the public eye,” said Andrew St Ledger of the Woodland League.
“The land is bit by bit being trans- ferred from Coillte to these funds and, from there, who knows? We feel that because Coillte is a government agency, and because of the amount of public money that has gone into AIB and Irish Life, that this trust should be open to requests under the Freedom of Information Legislation.
“Our understanding at the moment is that pretty much every bit of public-owned forestry in Clare is up for sale if someone wants to buy it.”
At present, Clare has about 55,000 acres of Coillte-owned forestry, one of the largest stocks of publiclyowned forestry in Ireland.
Meanwhile, three Clare forests have been put forward as part one of the largest sale of forests ever to take place in Ireland. A single fund company, whose identity has not been made public, is to sell 20 separate holdings across Ireland in the coming weeks, including three holdings located in Clare.
The woodlands cover a total area of 917 acres and have reached around 50 per cent maturity. The sale is expected to generate an estimated € 4.5 million for the trust – or just under € 4,900 per acre. The selling agents for the properties say they have already registered interest from a number of Irish and overseas investors.