Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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671. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount received by farmers and non-farmers for forestry payments in 2019 with respect to planting in each county under the forestry programme; and the percentage breakdown for planting in each county between the total amount received in payments by farmers and non-farmers in tabular form. [7825/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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672. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers and non-farmers participating in planting schemes under the forestry programme by county in tabular form. [7826/20]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 671 and 672 together.

The current Forestry Programme (2014-2020) offers an ambitious and attractive set of forestry measures aimed at increasing timber production and continuing to provide jobs in the forestry sector while, at the same time, improving the quality of the natural environment. The afforestation scheme offers a fixed grant towards the costs, subject to the maximum laid down in the scheme’s terms and conditions. In addition, annual premiums are payable to new forests which qualify for an afforestation grant for a maximum period of 15 years.

There is no distinction between the rate paid to farmers and non-farmers under the 2014-2020 Forestry Programme as the aim is to make the afforestation scheme accessible to all landowners. However, the table below shows that overwhelmingly, forestry premiums are paid to farmers.

The following table shows the number of farmer/non-farmers in each county, the amount of premiums received in 2019 and the percentage of premiums paid to farmers/non-farmers.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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673. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the percentage of agricultural land in each county that has been planted with forestry to date in tabular form. [7827/20]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The area of land afforested in each county is set out in the following table, which is taken from the third National Forest Inventory (NFI) published in 2019 and is the most up-to-date dataset currently available. The area of forest in Ireland is estimated to be 770,020 ha or 11% of the total land area of Ireland (NFI 2017).

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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674. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the final allocation made to each specific forestry scheme in his Department for 2020. [7828/20]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The total allocation for the Forestry Programme for 2020 is €103.5m. The funding for the Forestry Programme of my Department, reflects the target of 8,000ha of new afforestation, outlined in the Government’s Climate Action Plan, 2019.

The capital allocation is estimated at €100.1mThis provides for new afforestation (€26.5m), existing annual premiums for current Afforestation Scheme participants (€62.25m) and Forestry Support and ancillary schemes (€11.35m).

The support schemes include the Forest Road Works Scheme along with other forestry schemes such as Woodland Improvement, Native Woodland Conservation and NeighbourWood. The capital allocation also provides for the National Forest Inventory, which is commencing a new cycle in 2020.

The current allocation of just over €3.4m provides for other support schemes including the very successful Forestry Knowledge Transfer Group Scheme, which is now reopening for 2020. I have also provided funding for training and promotional strategies in 2020.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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675. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of broadleaf forestry planting as a percentage of total planting in 2018 and 2019, in tabular form. [7829/20]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Interest in planting native woodlands has been increasing, since I introduced a series of new measures following the Forestry Programme (2014-2020) Mid-term Review in 2018. My Department pays generous grants and premiums as part of the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme, particularly for broadleaf categories.

In 2018, payments issued in relation to the new planting of 374 hectares of native woodlands, an increase of 38% compared to 2017, while in 2019, the figure for new planting of native woodlands was 310 hectares. The percentage of broadleaf planting as a percentage of total planting has also increased considerably since the new measures targeting broadleaf afforestation through increased grant and premium rates for relevant planting categories were introduced in 2018. In 2017, 21% of trees planted were broadleaf trees. This percentage increased to 27% in 2018, remained stable at 25% in 2019 and has increased to 36%, during the months up to April in 2020.

The following table shows the total percentage of broadleaf planted in 2018 and 2019.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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676. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the annual planting targets per hectare for all categories in each grant and premium category for 2018 and 2019 of the Forestry Programme 2014-2020; the actual number of hectares planted in each such year for these categories; and the number of hectares planted out of each annual target set on a percentage basis in tabular form. [7830/20]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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While overall targets are set for planting programme as a whole, only Native Woodland, Agroforestry, and Forestry for fibre have specific planting targets and there are no specific targets for the other Grant and Premium Categories (GPC) 1 to 8 inclusive. The relevant data is provided in tabular form as requested.