Farmers have been urged not to tackle windblown forestry plantations with chainsaws, and to prioritise safety.

Minister of State for Forestry, Horticulture and Farm Safety, Michael Healy-Rae, pointed out at the second meeting of the Forest Windblow Taskforce that storm damaged plantations are extremely dangerous places.

“Forest owners should put safety first and not attempt to tackle this work themselves with chainsaws,” Healy-Rae said. “Trees windblown can be under all sorts of tension and using large harvesting machines is the only safe way of getting this timber out.”

The Department of Agriculture conceded at the taskforce that the scale of the forestry damage inflicted by storm Éowyn was significantly greater than that done by storm Darwin in 2014 when 2m tonnes of timber was knocked.

Minister Healy-Rae was non-committal on changes regarding the requirement for felling licences for windblown plantations.

However, he claimed that some private forestry companies have indicated that more than 50% of damaged forests have a felling licence.

“It is important now that, in as far as possible, the harvesting capacity is mobilised into these areas,” Minister Healy-Rae said.