Land
When Coillte was established in 1989, it became the manager of a diverse forest estate of 396,000 hectares. Over the last 35 years, the company has developed the forests and land and grown the area under our management to 440,000 hectares.
Coillte balances and delivers the multiple benefits of its forests for climate, nature, wood and people. Land is bought and sold by Coillte for a range of reasons including expanding its forests, facilitating neighbours, local communities, schools and businesses, and supporting strategic national objectives such as tourism, regional development and infrastructure projects.
Our Land Sales Process
Coillte gives careful consideration to any sale of state lands. Each proposal is assessed and evaluated based on its impact on people, climate and nature, and for its consistency with strategic national objectives. Coillte’s property transactions comply with the Disposal of State Assets and Access to Assets by Third Parties under the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies (Code) see: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/7adff-governance/.
Each project is evaluated on a case-by-case basis by Coillte’s Property and Renewable Energy committees in the context of Coillte’s purpose, vision and mission and potential impact against the following criteria, nature, climate, people, value and consistency with national policy and objectives.
Following evaluation, proposed sales are advertised, local community engagement is undertaken, and feedback is taken on board.
The final stage of the process includes a review by Coillte’s Property sign off committee, and if necessary, the Coillte Board, for approval and permission to complete the sale process and is conducted in compliance with the Excision Policy v2.1 190514 relating to the removal of lands from the certified estate.
Coillte's Experience
The case studies below are a sample of the types of local community projects that Coillte has supported in recent years:
Community
Coillte’s Castlefreke forest located beside Long Strand beach just outside Rosscarbery, Co. Cork is home to the local unit of the Irish Coast Guard. The Irish Coast Guard approached Coillte looking for support to enable the development of a new Coastguard station that would improve their operational efficiency by housing their lifeboat and providing changing facilities and a training room for the local team.
Coillte met with the Irish Coast Guard to understand their objectives and their proposal was assessed and evaluated. Following local consultation, the sale of 0.22 ha of Coillte land was approved to the Office of Public Works (OPW) which is the governing authority for the Irish Coast Guard. Work on the new Coast Guard station is expected to be completed in 2025.
A spokesperson for the Irish Coast Guard unit in Castlefereke said, “We are delighted that the OPW and Coillte reached agreement on the sale of 0.22 hectares of land for the development of our new Coastguard station in Cork, which will greatly enhance our emergency response service in our area of operations.”
The Castlefreke unit provides a coastal search capability on the shore, and also” Unmanned Aerial Vehicle“ search capability. Coast Guard Units are also available to enhance community resilience during emergencies such as storms or situations when requested by Principal Response Agencies/Principal Emergency Services.
Sport
Sarsfields GAA club was founded in 1966 and consists of the rural parishes of Bullaun, New Inn and Woodlawn in East Galway. The club had never owned its own pitch and struggled over many years to acquire land locally. In 2015 the club approached Coillte about the possibility of buying land to develop its own pitches.
Following local consultation, agreement was reached, and the club acquired 10.5 acres from Coillte. The official opening of Sarsfields’ new grounds took place in September 2018.
Michael Kenny from Sarsfields GAA said, “Through working with Coillte we were able to develop our pitches and facilities, and this has been of enormous benefit to the club and local community. The grounds are used by hurling and camogie teams of all ages and grades, as well as local schools. Matches are held almost every evening. A walkway was developed around the pitch in 2019 and this is used by members of the community of all ages for exercise purposes. This was a particularly valuable resource during Covid-19.
Residential
The town of Gorey is expanding and land adjacent to Coillte’s Ramsfort Park will see 190 new homes being built in 2024.
To access water treatment facilities in the area, pipework needed to be installed to facilitate these new homes.
Opening up the public road network to lay the pipework would have caused traffic disruption for locals, additional cost and extended timelines for the project.
A solution was agreed between Uisce Eireann, the developer and Coillte to allow a more efficient connection by laying a pipe through Coillte’s Ramsfort Park.
The site was surveyed by Coillte’s ecology team to ensure that any work would cause minimal impact to the forest environment and public representatives and the local community were consulted. The work was completed in early 2024.
CONTACT US
Coillte has a dedicated team who actively sources land suitable for forestry to expand the estate, and who manage any sales to support individuals, businesses and local communities.
If you have any queries, please contact the team at info@coillte.ie.
Land Acquisitions and Disposals
Coillte as a forestry and land solutions business undertakes land acquisitions and disposals (including excision of lands from the certified estate) as part of its everyday business.
You can read more on our Excision Policy below and also view the 2021 and 2022 Excision lists as well as the 2022 Acquisition List.
Coillte Excision Policy V2.1 190514