Access for runners on Coillte lands may be curtailed

The tender for Evaluation of the Public Goods Value on the Coillte Forest Estate has closed a few weeks back.

Part of the tender states "It is expected that this economic evaluation will be a combination of market research techniques involving a statistically significant random sample of the Irish public and/or focus groups and will provide aggregate sums of the value for the Coillte estate." So if you do get a call from a market researcher about this issue, be sure and engage them on just how much value you put on being able to run freely on Coillte lands.

Micilin Muc wrote: »

What are the 'forest and non-forest assets', as opposed to the 'forest land'?

"Forest Land" is land under forest. Which may explain why Coillte have massively extended their felling of forest's in the past two years; this land is no longer "under forest" and will now be for sale.

"Forest" is the timber, "non-forest assets" includes such valuable commodities as carbon-sinks, which are traded under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

All of this to prop up banks which should have been let fail under the capitalist system they were part of. As of today, I'm planning an exit from this joke of a country.

Cabinet are set to discuss the sale of Coillte next week. A portion of the proceeds are to be sidelined for "jobs stimulus". This is a cynical attempt at softening debate- expect to see earnest faced politicians sidestepping debate on the sale of public land by playing the "What do you want? Jobs stimulus or not?" card.

The real reason is to pay for interest on the contentious €30.6 billion of promissory notes, or State IOUs, which are being used to fund the cost of Anglo Irish Bank and INBS (€16.8 billion in interest must be paid on the loan).

This is the sale of public Irish land, to pay interest on bad private loans, which should have nothing to do with us as citizens. The sale of this land has been prepared for some time- massive felling programs over the past few years with none of the mandated reforestation.

Anyone who enjoys the freedom of running through Irelands forests and mountains, needs to write to their local TD to make their opposition known. A list of members by constituency is here. You've a week to do so, its very important that you make your voice heard. Ireland has suffered too long from apathy, make sure you can say you at least tried to affect some change, and write a letter or email this weekend.

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Portion of profits from sale of State assets to go into job creation

HARRY McGEE and SIMON CARSWELL

A MEMO recommending the sale of State assets will be considered by the Cabinet, possibly as early as next Tuesday, following agreement from the EU-IMF troika that a “sizeable” portion may be used for jobs stimulus.

Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin announced yesterday that there had been a breakthrough on this issue during discussions with the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund as part of the latest review of Ireland’s €67.5 billion bailout programme.

Mr Howlin said the troika had moved from a position where it had insisted the funds could be used only to reduce the country’s debts to a position where it agreed that a portion could be used to create employment.

“We made progress in that regard. We will have sizeable quantities of money available from assets that we can apply to new jobs,” he said during a joint conference with Minister for Finance Michael Noonan on the outcome of the review.

At a later press conference, the EU Commission seemed to play down the concession. Its head of mission Istvan Szekely said plans had to be finalised about the use of cash from the sale of State assets.

“We would like to understand their plans for asset sales and I understand this is in the process,” he said.

Government sources insisted last night that Mr Howlin’s comments had been approved by the troika beforehand. While Mr Howlin refused to be drawn on the extent of asset sales, or the proportion to be used to fund jobs, it is understood the more the Government sells, the higher the proportion of funds available for jobs creation.

In its programme the Government set an upper threshold of €2 billion but now looks more likely to approve more than €3 billion in disposals, including part of ESB. A report prepared by a special group included Dublin Port, shares in Aer Lingus, and parts of Bord Gáis and Coillte in its list of recommendations.

The troika, in its summation, said the Government has met the terms of the €67.5 billion programme so far but that the country faced “considerable challenges” and must implement policy measures.

The Government also claimed significant progress with the troika on the contentious €30.6 billion of promissory notes, or State IOUs, which are being used to fund the cost of Anglo Irish Bank and INBS. A further €16.8 billion in interest must be paid on the loan.

Mr Noonan last night described the promissory notes, with their punitive interest rates, as “abominable”. He said the troika would present a position paper by the end of February.

“What we are working on is an alternative to the promissory note that will reduce the costs to Ireland,” he said. A source said it would mean an extension of the term or a drop in interest rates, or both.

A number of deadlines for the introduction of new legislation and plans for the banking sector have been deferred.

Legislation to reform the personal insolvency regime and a restructuring plan for Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) have been deferred until the end of April, with ILP recapitalisation put back to June.

Stress-testing of Irish banks (the PCAR) has also been deferred from March to November.

The troika highlighted challenges including the weaknesses of domestic demand, high unemployment and an economic slowdown in some of the main trading partners.

As a result, its growth forecasts for the economy had been cut from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent – just over a third of the Government’s forecast. It still expects the 8.6 per cent budget deficit for 2012 to be met.

Mr Noonan, for his part, said there was no reason to resile from the Government’s own growth prediction.

The ECB again ruled out forcing losses on senior unsecured and unguaranteed bondholders as it would damage confidence in the Irish banking system and could be “very costly”. Anglo is due to repay a €1.25 billion senior unsecured unguaranteed bond next Wednesday.

Mr Noonan said the fiscal consolidation targets had been met by a significant margin, in tandem with the first return to growth in 2011 for three years.

The troika said the Government had delivered a budget deficit of 10 per cent for 2011, significantly ahead of programme targets.

Mr Howlin said the troika was sensitive about the €5 billion in the National Pension Reserve Fund and regarded it, in some sense, as “collateral”. This signalled that some or all of this fund may not be available for Government programmes.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the real economic test was the number of people on the Live Register. Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said the latest review showed austerity was not working as a policy.

average_runner wrote: »

The goverment should be forced to put this to a referedum as its the people's land and not the government

Coillte sometimes refer to themselves as a Public body ("Coillte is a commercial State company, owned by the Minister for Finance who holds 795,059,999 shares and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who holds 1 ordinary share. Prior to the establishment of Coillte on 1 January 1989, the civil service through the Forest Service managed the State owned forests"), and sometimes as a Private body, as when denying FOI requests into their reports on mineral assets under their land.

It certainly used to be the public's land, now it will become private land, as private debt became public debt. Nice symmetry to that, don't you think?

Feel free to send on, amend, point out corrections, etc. But please do send it on in your name, if you agree with the sentiments. I know for a fact that things can change when TD's listen to their constituents. And they do listen, but you have to speak up.

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Dear Elected Representative,

It has been reported that over 7% of Irish land, owned and managed by Coillte, is to be sold to private investors, at the behest of the EU/IMF troika. This land is public land which is our bequest to future generations. It is currently freely accessible to Irish citizens, who can enjoy the many benefits our forests and uplands offer- including walking, bike trails, nature watching, mountain climbing, running, etc. At a time when these outdoor pursuits are becoming more popular, and the associated health benefits better understood, to sell off such an asset in order for private debt to be serviced, is nothing short of treason to the Irish State.

The health and recreational benefit of these Coillte lands are immeasurable. With sustainable management, these forests and uplands can create thousands of jobs and training opportunities, and remain the property of the Irish people. As more people discover the benefits of exercise, keeping Coillte lands open and free will reduce our reliance on Health services.

The mineral rights under Coillte land belong to the Irish people. Currently, any Freedom of Information request to see the results of Coillte's internal mineral surveys are greeted with stonewalling and refusal. What assets are contained in those reports, and are now secretly for sale?

Ireland is one of the best land masses in the world on which to harvest wind energy, a clean, environmentally friendly, energy resource. The prime sites on which to operate wind farms are on Coillte hilltops. Far better to keep these sites and future income streams in public ownership, than to sell them on to speculators at knock-down prices.

At the stroke of a pen, 7% of Ireland will be transferred to private hands- land that generations of patriots fought to keep free for the Irish people. I urge you, as an elected representative of the Irish people, to oppose any measure which would see Coillte lands transferred from Irish sovereignty to fenced-in private corporations.

Is mise le meas,