Ms Imelda Hurley, chief executive of Coillte and Mr. Mark Carlin, managing director of Coillte
Coillte is the largest forester in Ireland, responsible for managing 440,000 ha, that is, 7% of the land area of Ireland
The Group’s forest holdings comprise approximately 365,347 hectares of forestland in the Republic of Ireland and approximately 15,746 hectares of standing forest plantations established on leased land (as per 2021 annual report)
Coillte estate accounts for around half of Ireland’s forests
Employ 840 staff and support approximately 1,200 direct contractors
Ireland has one of the lowest levels of forest cover in Europe, at approximately 11.6%, in comparison with a European average of over 40%
Coillte is comprised of three operational segments, namely, Coillte Forest, land solutions, and Medite Smartply
90,000 ha of estate (20%) is currently managed primarily for biodiversity
Developed a science-based approach called BioForest, which classifies the ecological value of the biodiversity areas in our estate, and allows us to develop ecological and silvicultural plans to enhance or restore sites to improve biodiversity
Coillte land solutions division provides innovative commercial solutions to support industries such as renewable energy, housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure development, water and tourism
2021, with the ESB, launched a new joint venture renewable energy company, FuturEnergy Ireland, to develop wind energy
Coillte Nature is part of our overall land solutions division. It operates on a not-for-profit basis and is dedicated to the restoration, regeneration and rehabilitation of nature through large-scale projects across four strategic themes, namely, afforesting, restoring, regenerating and rehabilitating.
Medite Smartply division consists of manufacturing mills in Clonmel, for Medite and Waterford for Smartply, which produce engineered wood-based construction panels
Aim to enable the creation of 100,000 ha of new forests by 2050
Wild Western Peatlands project will restore and rehabilitate approximately 2,100 ha of Atlantic blanket bog and wet heath, currently planted with spruce and pine forests in Derryclare, County Galway
Coillte to NPWS land transfers

Q. What is the total area for commercial timber at the moment?
A. As a primary goal for wood, approximately 250,000 ha of the estate, which is half the estate. There are approximately another 50,000 ha to 60,000 ha where we still harvest wood, but it is not the primary objective.
Q. Is there a planting obligation on those 30,000 ha (forestry on bogs) or is the Department going to let Coillte out from that?

Felling

Land sales


Public land


Reference to Scottish parliament

What is Forestry Partners?



Nature Partners CLG

Project Woodland

Dividends
Coillte paid a €30 million dividend to the State last year

Exports

Grants


When Coillte was formed in 1989, approximately 396,000 ha of forests and lands were under management and today it is approximately 440,000 ha.
Ownership



Duration of the fund


DAFM / Coillte


Coillte Profit Figures

Chairmans closing remarks


