Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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725. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the percentage of lands in counties Cavan and Monaghan used for forestry or involved in the State forestry and planting programme; the way in which this is monitored; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11940/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The National Forest Inventory (NFI) is the principal means of monitoring national forest cover in Ireland. The NFI records and assesses the extent and nature of Ireland’s forests, both public and private, in a timely, accurate and reproducible manner. The NFI is a detailed periodic survey of permanent forest sample plots based on a randomised systematic grid sample design. The exercise is repeated every 5 years with the most recent NFI available for 2012. Work on the next NFI is currently underway.

According to the National Forest Inventory (NFI) 2012 total forest cover in Counties Cavan and Monaghan is 8.7% and 4.3% respectively. The total area of forest for the country according to the NFI is estimated to be 731,650 ha or 10.5% of the total land area of Ireland. Further information is available at www.agriculture.gov.ie/nfi/.