A protest is being held outside Leinster House this afternoon, opposing a multi-million euro deal between Coillte and a UK investment fund.
The €200m deal with Gresham House will see 12 thousand hectares of new and existing forests owned by a foreign firm.
The Agriculture Minister and the Taoiseach has said while the deal is not the preferred model for reforestation, the contract will be honoured.
Padraic Fogarty from the Irish Wildlife Firm says Coillte needs to be restructured as a non-for-profit group.
"Just like any commercial company, all they're interested in is the bottom line. They're not interested about nature or communities, they're concerned about making money.
"It's not actually new that Coillte is going to foreign investors to expand its projects, it's being doing this for a number of years."
