Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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544. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total funding provided for forestry in 2016 and 2017; the level of funding provided for each programme; if any of this expenditure is sourced from the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5921/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The current Afforestation Scheme provides a range of grants that cover the full cost of establishment of the plantation and payment of annual premiums to both incentivise planting and to compensate for the loss of agricultural activity on the land that is planted. The Afforestation Scheme is voluntary and demand-led. Financial support for the 2014-2020 Forestry Programme is 100% Exchequer funded under EU State Aid rules.

The allocated funding for the Forestry Programme in 2016 was €113.855 million, which allowed for 6,500ha of new planting.  The actual expenditure was broken down as follows;

- €97.797 million to the Afforestation Programme, and

- €5.908 million for Forestry Support Schemes.

The allocation for 2017 is €111.675 million. The expenditure is to be broken down thus:

- €98.5 million to the Afforestation Programme, and

- €13.05 million for Forestry Support Schemes.

Forestry Support Schemes include funding for, inter alia, Forest Road Works, Reconstitution, Woodland Improvement Scheme along with COFORD, the Forest Service Inspectorate and Promotion.