Coillte harvesting rights protest walks planned

A series of walks in Coillte woodlands will be held next month to protest at proposals to sell the harvesting rights to Ireland's public forests.

On Sunday, June 9th, several locations will host an event as part of national Walk in the Woods day, which is being organised by the Natural Resources Protection Alliance and the Woodland League.

Walks have already been organised in Dublin, Kerry, Wicklow, Cork and Donadea, Co Kildare, but organisers are looking for people to organise more walks in local wooded areas.

The events were announced during a protest outside Leinster House yesterday, which was attended by 100 people.

Speaking at the protest, spokesman for the Woodland League Andrew St Ledger said the Irish public was the main stakeholder in the country’s natural resources.

One of the protest organisers, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, said it was clear that people cared about the sale of the country's natural resources. "Until we get a definitive statement from the Government and the Ministers directly responsible, we will continue to organise and escalate our campaign to ensure that our public forests stay in public ownership."

In April the groups organised a walk in Avondale, Co Wicklow, where an estimated 4,000 people protested against the sale of forests.