Coillte has decided against selling 39 acres of forest land near the Dublin Mountains following opposition and criticism from local politicians.
The State-owned forestry firm had been considering selling Killegar Wood, a patch of forest near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, following an unsolicited approach from a neighbouring landowner.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett had strongly criticised the proposed sale, which had been advertised with an asking price of €250,000 by a local estate agent.
In correspondence to Mr Boyd Barrett dated November 9th, Coillte said it had decided not to continue with the sale of the lands. The company noted that it regularly purchased land and sold parts of its existing estate.
“This year we expect to sell c150 hectares of land but at the same time will purchase c450 hectares of new land and forests,” it said.
In a statement, Mr Boyd Barrett said the sale of the forest had been averted “because of public vigilance and campaigning”. The Dún Laoghaire TD called on Coillte to look at developing Killegar forest “as a community woodland with a focus on biodiversity”.
In a statement, Coillte said it manages a 450,000 hectare forest estate “on behalf of the people of Ireland”.
Host of reasons
Land was often bought and sold by the body for a host of reasons, “including facilitation of land access and to support strategic national objectives such as tourism and regional development,” a spokesman said. Since the company was set up in 1989 it had bought more land than it had sold, he said.
Under Coillte’s policies all sales of land must be approved by an internal property sign-off committee.
“In this case the property had not reached this approval stage and was going through a consultation stage,” the spokesman said.
While signage had been put up around the site, and there had been talks with local estate agents, this was part of Coillte’s “consultation stage in any proposed land disposal as it helps promote transparency in land transactions,” he said.
“The proposal to sell was being considered following an unsolicited approach to Coillte by a neighbouring landowner,” the spokesman said.
The Killegar forest “had no connection to a road and was effectively landlocked by privately owned farmland,” so given these access restrictions the offer had been considered, he said.
