Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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43. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on afforestation levels under the new forestry programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8331/24]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I ask for an update on afforestation levels under the new forestry programme and for the most up-to-date figures in respect of the number of licences approved so far this year.

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

I thank Deputy Kerrane for her question. The new forestry programme for the period 2023 to 2027 was launched in September 2023 following receipt of state aid approval from the European Commission. Since then, a total of 2,154 ha have been approved for planting under the new programme. This is in addition to 1,293 ha paid for and planted under the interim de minimisscheme in 2023, with this planting carried out in accordance with the new programme.

The new forestry programme aims to encourage a substantial increase in afforestation by offering attractive and diverse options for planting, especially for farmers. The Government has committed €1.3 billion to the programme in order to support our national ambition of 8,000 ha of afforestation per year. The new afforestation scheme offers landowners a choice of 12 forest types which cover a broad range of planting options including native woodland, continuous cover forestry and emergent forests. It provides generous incentives to farmers, in particular, to re-engage with forestry. These include increases in premium rates ranging from between 46% to 66%, along with a longer premium term of 20 years for farmers, compared to 15 years for non-farmers, across most forest types.

Afforestation is a voluntary land use choice for landowners and building confidence among landowners and farmers of the benefits of forestry will be key to increasing afforestation rates in the years ahead. In order to encourage uptake, we have engaged in extensive promotion of the forestry options available including funding 42 stakeholder projects. These projects will promote the forestry programme through a wide variety of approaches and will engage with the wider community to highlight the benefits of forests as a source of biodiversity, enjoyment and inspiration. A targeted campaign has been under way across all media. This will continue throughout 2024. In addition, more than 1,000 people attended 20 Teagasc-led in-person meetings for the public on the new afforestation scheme throughout the country and Teagasc will continue to promote forestry.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State will be well aware that there are significant concerns regarding the many limitations of the new forestry programme. I have engaged across the board in relation to forestry and have not met a single farmer, forester, organisation representing those involved in forestry, private forestry company or mill that has any confidence in the forestry programme. They have raised significant concerns, particularly around the limitations. They cannot all be wrong. While the Minister of State has moved to assure us that the capacity is there within the system to issue licences for the 8,000 ha target, I am not convinced the applications will be there. The forestry dashboard shows that just 152 ha out of the required 667 for the month have been achieved and just two forestry licences were issued in the past week.

Is the Minister of State aware of people's concerns? I presume they have been put to her. Is she convinced that this forestry programme is going to work and we will meet our target of 8,000 hectares annually?

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I am aware of some concerns. The Deputy may be meeting different people from those I have met, because the programme was warmly welcomed. After a long period, it was great to get the programme across the line last September. It has been warmly welcomed and there has been great engagement at the many forestry promotion events across the country that Teagasc, private forestry owners and private forestry companies have been running. There is engagement there and a desire among people to plant trees.

There are some legacy confidence issues that we still need to address. We have established an afforestation technical working group in the Department to tease out some of the teething problems that have arisen. As the Deputy knows, we worked really hard to get the forestry programme across the line. It took longer than I, the officials in my Department and those in the sector would have liked. We had to go to great lengths to get the forestry programme across the line and to get Commission approval, which was much needed. We would not have a forestry programme at all had we not put that effort into it.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I presume that the Minister of State and I are meeting the same groups. She has met SEEFA and I have met that association many times. I am sure she is aware of the concerns raised by many of the farm organisations, particularly the forestry section of the IFA. They are all saying the same thing. The maps speak for themselves in showing the very large swaths of land across the island of Ireland that are subject to limitations and restrictions. The mapping shows huge tracts of land that are likely to be ineligible for forestry. The Minister of State has said that it may appear that way but that farmers should go ahead and apply. However, farmers would have to do so at a cost to themselves because they would have to pay for reports. We need farmers if we are going to achieve the 8,000 ha target but I have not met any farmers who not be put off by the idea of having to get reports done at a cost to themselves in order to have their forestry licence applications approved.

There are significant concerns but it does not sound like the Minister of State has heard them. I presume representatives of SEEFA put them to her when they met her. I would be very concerned if the Minister of State was not aware of very serious concerns relating to the future of the forestry programme. The Minister of State needs to review the new programme, particularly the limitations that are set out in it. When will she look again at where we are going in relation to this? We are only two months into the programme, more or less, because it started so late. When will the Minister of State be reviewing it?

Pippa Hackett (Green Party)
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I have met with SEEFA and the IFA and am aware of their concerns. Both organisations, along with other stakeholders, sit on the afforestation working group which is teasing out some of the issues and looking for opportunities to take a slightly different approach while remaining within the confines of the regulations from the European Commission. I am not sure if the Deputy is condoning planting on special protection areas, SPAs, on deep peat or in pearl mussel areas. These are the areas that have been removed for absolutely genuine and proper reasons. We cannot reverse out of where we have moved to. We have seen the legacy issues in relation to forestry and we cannot go back to that. I am not sure whether the Deputy is proposing that we can plant anywhere we like. That is why the maps are there. They are there to guide and to protect our nature but there are vast swaths of the country that are not on those maps. There are vast swaths of the country that can be planted with trees.

We put together a large funding package for farmers throughout the country in order to allow them to engage in that. There are so many options available. I encourage any farmer who is in any way remotely interested in planting trees to look at the money on offer.