Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett, has launched the Department’s annual Forest Statistics Report for 2023, which shows that forestry continues to grow throughout Ireland.
"Earlier this year my Department launched the National Forest Inventory for 2022 which details that our forest estate is still expanding at 11.6% of the total land area. In 2022 an additional 2,273 ha of new forests were created. While these new forests planted in 2022 will ultimately form a valuable part of our national forest estate and will play an important role in sequestering carbon, providing timber and creating new habitats, last year’s level of planting is far below where we ultimately need to be.
"I am confident that the new €1.3 billion Forestry Programme will mark a turning point for Irish forestry, and I believe that the Programme will unlock the potential for the sector to get back to planting 8,000ha per annum and more. One of the trends we can see is that in the years that most recently exceeded the 8,000ha target, farmers were planting the vast majority of new forests in Ireland. The supports we have put in place for farmers in the new Forestry Programme, with 20 years of payments at rates increased by between 44% and 66%, will reignite forestry as a real option to be incorporated as part of the farm enterprise, and provide the platform for the forestry sector to work with farmers to plant the full range of forest types on offer in this Programme.
"I am pleased to see that the proportional area of broadleaves afforested in 2022 represents 42% of all afforestation. We have further incentivised native forests in the new Forestry Programme, with payments for farmers to plant native forests now at €1,100 per hectare, every year for 20 years, so we can expect the proportion of broadleaves to grow further in each year of the new Programme.
"Our focus is now on implementing the new €1.3 billion Forestry Programme. This is the biggest and best funded Forestry Programme ever put in place by an Irish Government and I would encourage every farmer to look seriously at the very generous premium rates available for the forest type that best suits their land and their farm enterprise," Minister Hackett stated.
