Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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416. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the latest research that has been conducted by the Forest Service into the climate adaptability of commercial and native tree species in view of ongoing climate change threats; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40371/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has provided funding on these issues through a call for research proposals. One project called FORM is concerned with improving productivity and resistance in key native and commercial species. Improved sitka spruce will be developed through a breeding programme and ash with tolerance to ash dieback disease will be investigated by locating tolerant genotypes within existing trials in Europe.

CLIMADAPT is a completed project and involves a web-based decision support system (DSS) based on an ecological site classification model developed specifically for Irish forestry. The objective is to provide a free DSS for forest managers and policy makers, using soil and climatic information that can be used to assess species suitability and yield for individual sites under current and future climate change scenarios.

Finally, through the COFORD Council (2015-2018) a working group on forest genetic resources has also been convened which aims to outline a strategy for the development, conservation, and deployment of forest genetic resource material.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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417. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the information showing the extent of abandoned and failed tree plantations in counties Donegal, Mayo, Sligo, Galway and Clare; if he will provide the latest carbon calculations for the forest estate and the projected carbon figures into 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40372/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The National Forest Inventory which is carried out every 5 years does not collect information on abandoned and failed tree plantations as this information can be difficult to establish in a survey. A forest may look abandoned for example due to an absence of thinning or road construction activity but this may be due to a no thinning policy on that particular site for silvicultural reasons.

Two significant events occurred in recent years which have impacted on forests failing to reach their productive potential; these were ash dieback disease which was first identified in late 2012 and the damage caused by the severe winter storms of 2013/2014.  In relation to ash dieback disease a reconstitution scheme was put in place by the Department to fund the removal of infected material and to replant these areas with an alternative species. The total area of sites cleared and funded under this scheme is 1.4 hectares in Donegal, 5.2 hectares in Sligo, 29.9 hectares in Clare, 49.8 hectares in Galway and 10.4 hectares in Mayo.

The 2012 National Forest Inventory calculated that there was a total of 380 million tonnes of carbon in the forest estate. Based on the most recent National Inventory Report reported to the UNFCCC, in 2015 forests and harvested wood products, net of deforestation emissions, resulted in total removals of 4.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in that year. Projections up to 2030 of changes in forest carbon stocks were provided as part of Ireland’s report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Actions as required under EU Decision 529/2013. These indicate that the total removals of carbon dioxide by forests and wood products, net of projected deforestation emissions, will amount to 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030. The projections are currently being updated in light of the most recent Roundwood Production Forecast, more up to date afforestation and deforestation data, and related information.