Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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256. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will put an attractive national afforestation scheme in place for farmers and other persons who have suitable land for planting, which will include a favourable averaging taxation regime, in the context of recent climate events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2281/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The State has provided attractive grant schemes for landowners for many decades to encourage the planting of new forests and this has continued under the Forestry Programme 2014-2020. The Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme 2014-2020 provides very generous grants of up to €5,750 per hectare to cover the full cost of planting, along with annual premiums of up to €635 per hectare per year for 15 years. The rate of grant and premium is dependent on the species of tree planted, with native broadleaf species attracting the highest grant and premium rates. Details are available on the Department’s website

These grant and premium payments are available to all landowners, both farmers and non-farmers.

The Afforestation Scheme supports the planting of 12 different categories of forests, including commercial conifer forests, commercial broadleaf forests and native woodlands. In 2014 two new forest categories were introduced to provide additional options for farmers. The Agro-forestry category aims to encourage farmers to combine livestock grazing with forestry, while the Forestry for Fibre category will allow farmers to plant forestry for the renewable energy or pulpwood markets on a 10-15 year crop rotation.

With regard to taxation, in Budget 2016 the High Income Earners Restriction, which formerly applied to income from forestry, was removed completely for active foresters and farmers. As a result, a taxation averaging regime is not necessary because following Budget 2016 the income earned from clear-felling will now be tax-free.