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Just over 90% of all forestry premiums paid in 2019 went to farmers, according to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture.
Last year, €64.3m was paid out to 13,727 landowners under the afforestation scheme, which offers annual payments for 15 years on eligible forests.
Almost 12,000 of those were farmers who received €58.1m, while 1,755 non-farmers received €6.2m.
Under the Forestry Programme 2014-2020, there is no difference in the rate paid to farmers and non-farmers to make the scheme assessable to all landowners.
In releasing the figures to Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson Charlie McConalogue, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said “overwhelmingly, forestry premiums are paid to farmers”.
County breakdown
In Leitrim, the county which has the highest percentage of afforested land at 19%, one fifth of payments go to non-farmers. There were 477 applications last year, with €2.6m going to 370 farmers, while 107 non-farmers received €0.5m.
Excluding Dublin, where there were just 22 applicants to the programme, Mayo (14%), Roscommon (14%), Monaghan (15%) and Cavan (16%) had the next-highest percentage of payments to non-farmers.
Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny had the lowest percentage of non-farmer applicants at 4%. Forestry covers in these counties range between 15% (Waterford) and 6% (Wexford).
In terms of total applicants, the highest numbers were in the south, with payments issuing to more than 1,100 people in Cork, Kerry and Clare.
Amounts
In total, €8.1m was paid out to those in Cork - split €7.4m farmer and €0.7m non-farmer. In Kerry, €5.1m out of a total €5.4m went to farmers. The split in Clare was €4.5m to farmers and €0.6m to non-farmers.
Other figures released to Deputy McConalogue by Minister Creed were total planting figures in 2019. Over 3,500ha were planted in total with three-quarters of those conifers and one-quarter broadleaves.
Both the total planting figures and the percentage of broadleaves have fallen compared with the previous year, when 4,000ha were planted with 27% broadleaves.
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