Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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739. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the budget allocation for each of the 12 afforestation schemes in 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26557/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine allocated a total of €94,245,000 capital budget to the afforestation and support schemes for 2022. Of this allocation €86,945,000 was allocated to the afforestation programme which provides €30,480,000 for 8,000ha of new planting in 2022 under all 12 Grant and Premium Categories (GPC) and €56,465,000 to service existing afforestation contracts, through annual premiums payments; second instalment and management grants for forests planted in previous years.  

The remaining €7,300,000 was allocated to the support schemes including Forest roads, Reconstitution, Woodlands Improvement Scheme, Neighbourwood Scheme and Native Woodland Conservation scheme.

The Deputy may be aware that the afforestation scheme is demand led and furthermore as forestry is a multi-annual scheme yearly premia may be accumulated. Currently our capital spending is in line with our projections for year to date. The Department will continue to closely monitor expenditure versus anticipated spend throughout 2022.