Sir, An item in The Irish Times (October 30th) records Mr Maurice Mullen as saying that Coillte "have (sic) a long history and a large reservoir of knowledge which isn't available to the same extent in the newly growing private sector". Mr Mullen may not know it but Coillte's "long history" began on January 1st, 1989.
That company's unquestioned success is firmly based on the sustained, scrupulous work of the State Forest Service from 1903 onwards. The large reservoir of knowledge and expertise developed over those years should be readily available to the private sector through the department's own Forest Service Inspectorate. Why is that not the case?
The possible privatisation of our state owned forests, a matter also raised by Mr Mullen, is too big a subject to be dealt with adequately in a brief letter to the editor. it is by no means as straightforward as his words would appear to suggest. - Yours, etc.,
Former chief inspector,
State Forest Service,
Mapas Road,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.