We must not squander another precious asset

Your stark newspaper headline “Coillte sale ‘crucial’ to troika plan” casts a shadow over recent declarations, such as: “Ireland has regained its economic sovereignty”, “The country has successfully exited the bailout”, and “The troika has left our shores”.

This prompts one to borrow a phrase, used at a different time and in different circumstances: “they have not gone away, you know”.

There appears to be a direct contradiction between the Government’s decision, in June of last year, not to sell the harvesting rights to Coillte’s forests, and the ECB’s insistence that the Coillte privatisation was a crucial part of the EU/IMF bailout programme agreed by Ireland.

It is incumbent on the Government to clarify the situation without delay, by asserting that the decision taken last June was genuine. Otherwise, another priceless national asset will be surrendered to outside interests, with similar catastrophic consequences, as experienced by relinquishing the nation’s fishing rights.

Mick Callanan

Crookstown

Co Cork