A reconstitution grant to replant forestry plantations severely damaged by storms Éowyn and Darragh is expected to be given the green light over the next fortnight.

While details of the package have not been released by the Department of Agriculture, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that the scheme will be worth in excess of €11m a year for four years.

It had been anticipated that the reconstitution grant would be announced with the Budget but the scheme was not cleared on time by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

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The replanting grant will be set at very close to the levels currently available in the forestry programme, the Irish Farmers Journal has been told. This would set the grant at around €3,858/ha.

Speaking following this week’s budget, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Michael Healy-Rae said that spending on the reconstitution measure would come from the overall budget for forestry.

“I am delighted to announce an additional €5m budget for forestry in Ireland, bringing our total investment in the area to €93m, this will include a Forestry Reconstitution Scheme for those affected by windblown sites,” he confirmed.

It is envisaged that the grant will be available on the 12,000ha of private forestry which suffered disastrous windblow damage in the two storms last winter.

A total of 26,000ha of forestry was levelled or severely tossed by the storms. However, 14,000ha of this total are Coillte plantations that are not covered by the reconstitution package.

The four-year timeframe for the scheme means that the total planned spend on the measure is likely to exceed €45m and could be as high as €48m.

Minister Healy-Rae has been insistent since storm Éowyn struck that a reconstitution and replanting grant would be made available to affected plantation owners.

Progress in replanting the windblown forests is dependent on how quickly the impacted plantations can be cleared.