Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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788. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current number of hectares of afforestation in the State; the percentage of land cover this comprises; if these figures are inclusive of forestry impacted by ash dieback; the total number of hectares impacted by ash dieback within the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59187/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The area of forest is 808,848 ha or 11.6% of the total land area of Ireland (National Forest Inventory 2022). These figures are inclusive of the 15,897 hectares of Ash plantations. The Deputy will be aware that my Department operates the Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme RUS (Ash Dieback) to assist ash plantation owners to deal with the impact of ash dieback disease.

Since the first finding of ash dieback disease in Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has provided support totalling over €7m to owners of ash plantations impacted by ash dieback disease through the ash dieback reconstitution scheme (introduced in 2013) and more recently the Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (Ash Dieback) introduced in July 2020.

The current scheme provides 100% grant aid to landowners to clear their ash crop, replant with an alternate species and manage their forest until successfully established.

This year to date nearly €850,000 has been paid out in site clearance and replanting grants under the RUS Scheme.

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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789. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department will divert attention from Coillte to private foresters for the remainder of 2022, given that the target number of Coillte felling licences stated in the forestry licensing plan for 2022 of 1530 has now been exceeded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59230/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine had made significant progress to deliver a licensing system which meets the needs of all those who apply for forestry licences.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has published its target for felling licences in 2022, with the aim of issuing 1,830 private felling licences, an increase of 36% on 2021 and 1,530 Coillte felling licences the same number as issued in 2021.

In order to further support the private applicants, my Department has allocated extra resources towards processing private felling licences. Private felling licence output in 2022 is up on last year with over 1,463 issued to 25th November. Private felling significantly exceeded Coillte felling in the last six months with 851 private licences versus 715 Coillte licences issuing since June, which reflects additional resources being allocated to private felling.

My Department will continue to process all types of licence applications for the remainder of the year, to ensure that as many licences, of all types, continue to be issued and that we come as close as possible to the licensing plan targets.

In the interest of full transparency, details of all licences issued by category are available on the weekly dashboard. This is published on the Departmental website and is made available to all interested parties as well as being submitted to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine each week.