The political pressure around the Coillte-Gresham House joint venture shows no sign of abating.

Sinn Féin certainly upped the ante this week with its Dáil motion. Government efforts to take some of the heat out of the issue by opting not to oppose the Sinn Féin motion was a crafty ploy, but were not entirely successful.

The Dealer hears that Fianna Fáil deputies were less than happy that Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue and Minister for State Pippa Hackett declined to take questions on the Coillte-Gresham House deal at a briefing on the new Forestry Programme last week.

Indeed, this apparently sparked calls for the matter to be discussed at yesterday’s Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting.

This issue still has legs and is sure to run and run.