Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Senator Pippa Hackett):

I thank Deputy Carthy. His question on my listing was to ask about the new afforestation from 2019 onwards, so I am happy to address that and the rest of his queries and comments.

New afforestation planting in the years 2019 to 2023, inclusive, is as follows: in 2019, there were 3,550 ha; in 2020, there were 2,434 ha; in 2021, there were 2,016 ha; in 2022, there were 2,273 ha; and to date in 2023, there have been 114 ha. The Deputy will be aware that new planting numbers have decreased in recent years due to various factors, including Covid-19, licensing issues and the wait-and-see attitude adopted by some applicants in the last years of the outgoing programme in anticipation of the higher grant rates that are now available under the new programme the Department announced late last year. The Deputy will know that the substantial issue with licensing has been resolved and that I launched an interim afforestation scheme to enable those applicants with valid approvals to opt into a scheme offering the new grant and premium rates contained in the draft forestry programme to bridge the lacuna between the old and new forestry programmes. To date this year, nearly 1,120 ha have been approved for planting in 2023 under those new interim arrangements. This planting is currently taking place and it is also important to note that non-grant-aided replanting, or reforestation, continues to take place every year, as is evidenced in the recent national forestry inventory.

It is my expectation and the expectation of Minister, Deputy McConalogue, that the proposed increases announced for the new programme will encourage increased uptake in afforestation numbers and that the ambitious targets of the new forestry programme can be met over the next five years and achieve the economic, environmental, climate change, biodiversity, and recreational and social benefits of this vital land use option.

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