Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not have those specific figures but I will get back to the Deputy on how much is going to grants and afforestation. The significant majority of the funding goes to recurrent annual premiums, as opposed to the one-off afforestation grant that is a smaller part of the overall annual budget. In the past couple of years we have seen a carry-over from the forestry budget in the form of capital into the following year's overall envelope.

It is certainly our objective to do all we can to increase licence numbers this year and ensure there is as much afforestation as possible. We could probably all agree it is unlikely we will reach the 8,000 ha mark this year but we want to make very significant progress based on the very poor outturn last year and work towards the target. If it becomes clear later in the year that the full amount will not be used, we will look at where we are then. At this point, our focus and objective is to drive on with Project Woodland working streams and address the very acute questions around the issuing of licences.