Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 333: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the breakdown of how the €121 million announced in budget 2010 to support forestry and bioenergy will be disbursed; the programmes it will fund; the number of jobs that will be supported by this investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47899/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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€121.845 million was allocated to Forestry and Bio Energy in last week's Budget and this is an increase of 2% on the 2009 allocation. This allocation is sub-divided as follows:

€104.93 million has been allocated to the main Afforestation Programme which will fund approximately 7 000 hectares of new planting in 2010 as well as ongoing commitments such as the annual forest premium and 2nd instalment grants.

€9 million has been allocated to a range of support schemes including the Forest Road, Native Woodland and NeighbourWood schemes.

€3.6 million has been allocated to forestry research and development.

€2.1 million has been allocated to Bio Energy schemes.

€0.225 million has been allocated to the National Forest Inventory.

The remainder has been allocated to current expenditure.

Forestry supports in the order of 16 000 jobs in the Irish economy with much of this employment provided in rural areas. This increased allocation will support this significant employment.