Fine Gael TD Pat Deering, who chairs the Oireacthas Committee on Agriculture, told the Irish Farmers Journal that Coillte wrote to the committee last week to detail the structures it has put in place to address concerns over payments and lack of communication from landowners who signed farm partnerships with the company.

In an exclusive interview with the Irish Farmers Journal last week, Coillte's strategy and business development director Bill Stanley revealed that the company had hired independent consultants to start sending out annual statements detailing the status of its financial dealings with farm partners.

In some cases, they have not been paid for years of harvesting

“These landowners entered into partnerships with Coillte in good faith and in return for fair payment and in some cases, they have not been paid for years of harvesting," Deputy Deering said. "While I welcome Gerard Murphy’s statement admitting that this has been happening and that all payments are to be made in full in the next couple of months, I will be asking the Committee to invite Coillte to appear before us once again as a matter of urgency to explain this situation," he added.

Murphy told RTÉ news this Thursday that thinnings had occurred earlier than planned on some farm partners' plantations, but payments due by Coillte had not been brought forward accordingly.

Transparency

Deputy Deering said that the committee was planning a hearing by the end of this month to hear the stories of farmers in dysfunctional partnerships and reports on progress from Coillte executives.

The IFA has also scheduled a meeting with Coillte on this issue.

"It is important, if trust is to be restored, that there is greater transparency on the models used to calculate their annual payment so farmers understand how their crop was valued,” said IFA forestry chairman, Pat Collins.

While apologising for insufficient communication, Coillte has insisted since a first Oireachtas committee hearing in December that most of its farm partnerships were working well.

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