A SERIES of allegations against Coillte, the state forestry board, were made yesterday by An Taisce, the IFA and the Irish Timber Council before a Dail committee.
The IFA accused Coillte of driving farmers and other rural dwellers out of rural Ireland by buying land at prices which farmers could not afford.
An Taisce said the state forestry company operated a poorly defined and minimal environmental and amenity policy and did not have qualified staff to address issues such as nature conservation and water quality.
The Irish Timber Council accused the company of using its monopoly position as sole supplier of logs to Irish sawmills, resulting in Irish sawmills paying the highest price for logs in Europe.
The IFA delegation told the Dail Committee on State Sponsored Bodies that Coillte, the State's largest landowner, should not be receiving EU premiums for its forests.
"Our members cannot compete with Coillte or the institutions when we want to buy land either for non-forestry or forestry activity," said Mr Michael Slattery, the IFA deputy president.
He said the money for the EU forestry programme had been put up for farmers to help them cope with a reformed Common Agricultural Policy, and while the IFA did not object to Coillte receiving planting grants, it should not get annual premiums.
He said when Coillte and corporate investors bought land for afforestation at prices farmers could not afford, quotas based on land were frequently lost to the farming community.
"When land moves away from the farming community, the number of local farmers will decline, giving rise to rural depopulation, including the abolition of small villages and the services that go with them," said Mr Slattery.
"The Government's forestry strategy is causing substantial distortion of the market for agricultural land. Already, Coillte alone is by far the biggest land-buyer in the country and accounts for up to one-third of all purchases of farmland," he said.
"Coillte needs to acquire about one-third of all farmland coming up for sale to meet Government targets to the year 2000. On top of that corporate investors will require a further 20 per cent of such land in order for Government targets to be reached," he said.
Mr Padraig Divilly, chairman of the IFA's national forestry committee, said corporate investors took their profits out of rural areas, thus speeding rural population decline.
He said 80 per cent of all afforestation in Co Leitrim since 1990 had been carried out by Coillte and non-farmers; the figure was 54 per cent in Co Sligo, 63 per cent in Cavan and 60 per cent in Roscommon.
In his submission, Mr David Hickie of An Taisce said Coillte's environmental responsibilities were poorly defined in the 1988 Forestry Act and the company had interpreted its environmental responsibilities in a minimalist way.
Because of this An Taisce had received hundreds of complaints about the operations of the company since it was set up and conservationists and environmentalists had grave concerns about its operations.
The appointment of an environmental officer and seven regional environmental officers was a welcome development which had helped resolve some issues, but he questioned whether they had appropriate qualifications to address such issues as nature conservation and water quality.
He said the company now had custody of one million acres of public forest land, and it was import ant that public access to this land be retained as private owners were less relaxed about access than in previous years.
He made recommendations which suggested the company should undertake substantially more broadleaf planting, retain and adequately manage the forest parks in its care and report on its property acquisitions and disposals annually.
An Taisce also recommended Coillte should phase out its operations in acid-sensitive areas and agree to restore damaged areas when necessary.
Mr Pat Twomey, the Irish Timber Council chairman, representing Irish sawmills, told the committee Coillte operated a system of pricing, quality and stock that ignored the realities of the marketplace because of its monopoly position.