Minister of State Pippa Hackett has acknowledged that the 2,273ha of new forestry planted in 2022 is “far below where we ultimately need to be”.

The minister’s comments come after the publication of the Department of Agriculture’s forestry report for 2022, which shows that Cork was the county with the largest area put under forestry last year at 400ha, followed by Clare at 211ha and Galway at 209ha.

“I am confident that the new €1.3bn forestry programme will mark a turning point for Irish forestry and I believe that the programme will unlock the potential for the sector to get back to planting 8,000ha per annum and more,” she said.

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Minister Hackett stated that the new forestry programme could help the State meet its afforestation target of 8,000ha per year by incentivising farmers to plant.

“I am pleased to see that the proportional area of broadleaves afforested in 2022 represents 42% of all afforestation.

“We have further incentivised native forests in the new forestry programme, with payments for farmers to plant native forests now at €1,100/ha, every year for 20 years, so we can expect the proportion of broadleaves to grow further in each year of the new programme.”

Felling record

The figures show a record 23,000ha was licensed for felling - the highest ever - and a further 25,000ha for thinning.

There were more licenses granted for the thinning of public forests than there were for private ones, while there was a higher number of felling licenses issued for private than there was for public woodlands.

“This is the highest recorded volume of timber ever licenced for felling in a single year,” Minister Hackett commented.

“This increase is encouraging as it highlights active forest management from private forest owners and also allows the mobilisation of timber for harvested wood products including house building.”