Upcoming Events

National | Environment

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Mar 29, 2024 00:04 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Women?s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player ?Broke Opponent?... Thu Mar 28, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
A women?s football competition has been branded misogynist after it was won by a team featuring five transgender players, amid accusations one had broken an opponent?s leg in two places.
The post Women’s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player “Broke Opponent’s Leg” ? But Teams Who Refuse to Play Against Them Are Branded “Discriminatory” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake Thu Mar 28, 2024 17:36 | Will Jones
The evidence that the Gaza casualty numbers from the Hamas-run Health Ministry (now over 32,000) are wildly inflated continues to mount. Mark Zlochin looks at what the proportions of male and female UNRWA workers tell us.
The post Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Don?t Be Fooled by the ?Britain is Growing? Fairytales Thu Mar 28, 2024 15:22 | David Craig
Don't be fooled by the 'Britain is growing' fairytales, says David Craig. Any 'growth' is accounted for by the hike in the benefits bill and in civil servants' pay and a heap of other unproductive deficit spending.
The post Don’t Be Fooled by the ‘Britain is Growing’ Fairytales appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Climate: The Movie is a Perfect Cure for Climate Anxiety Thu Mar 28, 2024 13:00 | Toby Young
Climate Change: The Movie, the new film by Martin Durkin, should be shown at every school in the country to disabuse anxious young people of the idea that we're in the midst of a 'climate emergency'.
The post Climate: The Movie is a Perfect Cure for Climate Anxiety appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Govt Plans to Sell Off Our Forests for 3 days Worth of Expenditure. Public Will Loose Access for 90 Years

category national | environment | news report author Wednesday March 20, 2013 21:15author by T Report this post to the editors

Govt claims forest worth more 50% than they are to justify sell off. Bertie Ahern is facilitating this.

The government is planning to sell off our national forests which are currently owned by Coillte. The plan would be to sell harvesting rights on 500,000 acres out of 1.2 million that they manage. They claim it is worth €700 million although in the Peter Bacon report on Forestry, he puts the true value at €360 million or the equivalent of 3 days of government expenditure. Bacon said: "economic rationale for the proposed sale of harvesting rights no longer stands up and cannot be justified." and that he further concluded it would actually cost the state €1,300 million to sell the harvesting rights of Coillte due to various liabilities. The report says that the forests should be developed further as a public resource.
forest_selloff_woodlandleague.jpg

But it does not stop just there because part of the plan to sell the harvesting rights would see the land lease to private companies for 90 years and there would be no obligation to continue public access and given experience it other countries the public would lose access to these lands for recreation. This would affect tourism, hikers, mountain-bikers, joggers, families out on weekend walks and many other forms of recreation. Leasing the land for 90 years is a good as selling it for good!

There are a number of private institutions interested in grabbing our national forests amongst them Chinese firms who in all likelihood would bring in their own people and trunks and ship the unprocessed wood back to China directly, thereby threatening many existing timber related jobs and local saw-mills in Ireland. Last year trade agreements were signed when the Chinese visited Ireland and we still do not know what promises were made since they are secret.

One of the companies also interested is a Swiss private pension firm Helvetia Wealth and none other than ex-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was appointed it's chairman no doubt with an eye to contacts and network of people within government, councils, civil service and state bodies that he would have. In fact it is not even possible to know from Coillte if any sales have already been made with Helvetia given that Coillte have already sold 40,000 acres of our public land to the private sector. But Ahern is not just inserted into Helvetia for he is also chairman of the industry body International Forest Fund who are also behind the land grab not just in Ireland but elsewhere. We must recall that this is the same lucky Ahern who told the tribunal that he won €25,000 at the races and lead the economic miracle in Ireland and told the 'naysayers' to go hang themselves. Unfortunately quite a number of people have committed suicide since the miracle economy collapsed.

Of the 40,000 acres already sold a large chunk were sold to facilitate Shell in Mayo for their operations where they will extract the Corrib Gas for free since they will pay no royalties and will be able to write over all costs against tax. Land was also sold to Wind Farm developers in areas that would be considered unsustainable for wind because the sites are not the best locations for wind and they would be underpowered.

People should be aware that much of the forestry targeted for the sell off is on land which was planted at state expense in the 1960s by the then Forestry Service. No doubt there was many a statement then about how these were for our future. Instead because of the insistence of bailing out bankers, developers, speculators & gamblers and bond holders this wealth is stolen from us all through sleight of hand.

The Woodland League has been campaigning for the past few years against the sell-off of our forests and it is time that the pressure is stepped up and more people take notice and get involved. In Sweden where parts of their forests were privatised a few years ago, they have now reversed the process and are taking them back into public ownership.

In the UK, similar moves are afoot. It is possible we can win this fight as this is a very broad issue affecting a very broad range of groups and people and affects all counties.

We also need to put a stop to the drip drip selling off of forestry that is happening. The reason appears to be is because Coillte who were given 1.2 million acres and had profits of €400 million have managed to screw up and appear to be in great financial difficulty particularly with their pension fund and they seem to have only kept going because they are selling off the nation's silverware.

The Bacon report was commissioned by the Forestry workers union, IMPACT and is available here or the copy attached to this article. Assessment of the Consequences of the Proposed Sale of Coillte’s Timber Harvesting Rights

Connemara Community Radio carried the interview (attached here) of Andrew St. Ledger of the Woodland League on Jan 31st 2013 days after the publication of the report. Much of the above report is based on this interview.

The Woodland League ( http://woodlandleague.org/ ) who are opposed to the sell-off of Coillte harvesting rights and land are promoting an alternative strategy which consists of the 3 R's of forestry. These stand for

1) Regeneration of native forests
2) Restoration of forest culture
3) Reform of Forest policy in Ireland.

They are running a petition to save Ireland's forests and have 37k signatures so far.

p8210861.jpg



Interview of Andrew St. Ledger of Wood Land League on Connemara Community Radio
audio Interview of Andrew St. Ledger of Wood Land League on Connemara Community Radio 14.22 Mb

PDF Document bacon_forestry_final_report_on_sale_of_coillte_harvestingrights.pdf 0.75 Mb

author by Pooka McFee - Nameless Faery Hordepublication date Thu Mar 21, 2013 11:34author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Start using your local woodlands. Don't ask permisssion. Get creative. Respect the land but remember you have a right to access it and use it. Gather firewood and building wood. Make shelters. Teach your kids how to make shelters. Learn how to use fire responsibly. Teach your kids and other peoples' kids the same. Pick up litter and improve the place. Create natural sculptures and artwork. Build community around areas of woodland. Learn what a healthy ecosystem looks and feels like. Explore possibilities for returning Sitka spruce monoculture back to mixed deciduous. Plant trees. Learn about local fauna and flora. Build relationships with local fauna and flora. Build relationships with other woodland users. Observe the action of water in the landscape. Engage assertively with Coillte and local authorities over your right to access and use the woods. We are the land. The land is us. Spread the word.
In order for the land to be subjected to laws of the market the relationship of the people with the land had to be broken. It is high time we regrew this bond. Our future depends on it.

author by Rational Ecologist.publication date Thu Mar 21, 2013 11:39author address author phone Report this post to the editors

When humankind is alienated from the landbase, tyranny is the norm and ecocide the final destination.
Coillte's monocrop, commercial plantations are part of the problem. People need to assert their right of way. Check out the Enclosures Act.

author by Pooka McFee - Nameless Faery Hordepublication date Thu Mar 21, 2013 12:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Seek out the most ecologically healthy areas in your locality. These are often to be found in inaccessible out of the way places too awkward for modern farmin or industry. Steep sided valleys are often lovely places. If you haven't been utterly desensitised by modern civilization you will recognise them by the way they make you feel. Calm, energised, optimistic. Use these places as a baseline guide to tell you what your bioregion would look like if it hadn't been ravaged by human civilization. Consider how to extend this health out into the landscape.

author by fredpublication date Thu Mar 21, 2013 15:13author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This is the same Bertie Ahern that also HALVED the tax rate on profits from the extraction of our oil and gas by companies such as shell. from 50% to 25%.

As if the state disgraced corrupt politician, Ray Burke, left them in was not eviscerated enough!

It's a wonder he wasn't in on this too.

I guess the bloated 100,000+ per annum pension the state pays out (why???) was enough for him, unlike Bertie who wants more.

Traitors both!

And it just shows you that FG will happily co-operate with the likes of Ex FF Ahern when it involves privatisation of our national assets for private gain, which is their mantra.

[ Oh to be a fly on the wall (with a tape recorder) when such deals are going down. And to record the bit where they talk about what their cut is and how it will be delivered.

Because I can't honestly believe anyone could be so deliberately short sighted and terminally stupid without a generous payoff ]

Save our forests from these greedy cynical traitorous vultures.

author by Ailispublication date Tue Apr 02, 2013 17:33author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Was it Coilte who gave away our forests to Shell/Statoil etc;for the Corrib gas project?
This resulted in the savage destruction of hundreds of acres of forestry,bogland,beaches and finally the plundering of our gas/oil.
Some of these were in protected areas,SACS.
When will we ever learn?

 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy