Forest Industries Ireland (FII) is calling on Government to increase the funding allocated to forestry, which would allow for afforestation grants to be risen by between 40% and 50% to cover the cost of inflation.

The group claimed that this would have a “minimal impact” on the State’s forestry spend in Budget 2023, with such funds falling from €112m in 2011 to €69m last year.

A similar payment increase was proposed for annual forestry payments and forestry roads.

FII argued that the period over which premiums are paid should be extended from the current 15 year payment system currently in operation.

Successive funding cuts and missed planting targets were having an impact on the economic attractiveness of forestry as a land use, it said.

More resources for forestry service

Also sought by FII is a larger allocation of resources to the Department’s forestry service, which it says should allow for the quicker processing of forestry licenses and an easing of the wait times experienced by farming.

“The current annual planting rate of circa 2,000ha indicates that the afforestation schemes are not an economically attractive land use and cannot compete with alternatives such as the leasing of land,” FII director Mark McAuley said.

“It is abundantly clear that both forestry grants and premiums must be increased if we are to reverse the downward trend in afforestation rates and move towards the Government targets for afforestation, which are 8,000ha per annum and increasing.

“Equally, the forest service in the Department appears under-resourced and requires additional investment in personnel and systems to enable it to provide efficient processing of forestry licences, invest in technology and dedicate resources to the much-needed reform of the regulatory system,” he commented.

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