Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 October 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Ireland's Forestry Programme and Strategy: Discussion

Mr. Fergus Moore:

Yes. COFORD does a forecast every five years. The recent forecast was only done last year, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, launched it. It states that by 2040, there will be about 6.6 million cu. m of timber harvested from the forest estate in Ireland. That forest will be replanted, and will feed through then to the next ten to 15 years. The target we have is basically to plant approximately 18% forest cover. That will require more than 500,000 ha of additional land to be planted. Even with the 50%-50% target, one is looking at 250,000 ha of spruce and 250,000 ha of broadleaves. If we manage to maintain our replanting figures, and also attain our afforestation figures-----

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