No progress made on clearing forestry one year on from storm Éowyn

No progress has been made on clearing one Galway farmer’s windblown forestry one year on from storm Éowyn.

Tom O’Brien’s 13ac of forestry at Ballyforan was knocked last year during the storm and remains in the same condition now.

“To say I am disappointed would be an understatement, both in terms of the financial loss and the distress it has caused over the last 12 months,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

A part-time beef farmer, O’Brien said he initially thought the trees would be harvested last summer, but this date has been pushed out due to the flood of timber in sawmills.

“It got pushed out then until September/October and then it got pushed out to December. Now it’s looking like it could be maybe – and I emphasise maybe – April/May,” he explained.

This experience is mirrored in the public sector, with Coillte – whose lands account for half of the approximately 64,000ac of downed forestry – stating its cleanup will continue into 2027.

Market

O’Brien said the Forestry Windblow Taskforce, established after the storm, should have focused on finding a market for the timber: “In my opinion, the taskforce has done very little to address the issues faced by private forestry growers apart from getting a licence to cut forestry, where the sawmills are already flooded with timber.

“In this case getting the felling licence was simply taking me to a bigger roadblock faster,” he stated.

The reconstitution scheme announced by the Department of Agriculture in recent months is to be welcomed, O’Brien said.

However, he hopes “a common-sense approach” will be adopted in relation to eligibility.

“There are many forests which had areas fully blown and partially blown in the one block with unviable parts left standing in some cases. These all have to be clear-felled in most cases,” he added.