Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 154: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way he differentiates between thinning and tending in relation to the application and administration of the woodland improvement grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24673/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Woodland Improvement Scheme provides grants for the thinning and tending of broadleaved forests planted after 1980. The prescriptions associated with tending and thinning are outlined in detail in the scheme conditions and can differ for each species.

The term 'tending' is used to describe the selective removal of very small trees from plantations that have reached a certain height e.g. 8 metres in the case of ash plantations. The purpose of removing trees is to provide increased light and space for the remaining trees to grow. The term 'thinning' is generally used to describe the second intervention and involves the further removal of trees from plantations when the trees are taller e.g. 12- 15 metres in the case of ash plantations.

The Woodland Improvement Scheme provides a fixed grant for a tending or thinning operation of €750/ha.