Coillte

The company was incorporated in December 1988 and commenced trading in January 1989 when it took over the forestry activities previously carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Shares are held by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Minister for Finance on behalf of the Irish Government. In its 27 years of operation between 1989 and 2016, Coillte had: • Grown its forest and land estate from 396,000 hectares to over 440,000 hectares Other entities have however questioned Coillte's commercially focused practices and the amount of land afforded to native species. ==Developments==

In 2011, there was speculation that Coillte could be sold by the Government of Ireland as part of cost-cutting measures. As of 2011, Coillte was also seeking to calculate the aggregate economic value of its 445,000ha of forest estate. In 2018 the organisation was reportedly criticised for payment and communication issues with some landowners. In 2019, Coillte set up a not-for-profit entity, "The Nature Trust", as part of a native woodland restoration plan. In 2025, it was announced this would be shutting down. ==References==