Written answers
Tuesday, 24 January 2023
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Forestry Sector
Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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660. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of funding provided for afforestation annually for each of the years 2018 to 2022 inclusive, in tabular form, including a breakdown of the amounts provided to farmers, private forestry companies, community/non-profit groups, public/semi-state bodies, and any other relevant category. [3122/23]
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The first table below sets out the allocation and spend for afforestation in each of the years 2018 to 2022.
| - | Afforestation Allocation. | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 88,000,000 | €86,653,515.45 |
| 2019 | 87,250,000 | €80,480,250.00 |
| 2020 | 87,250,000 | €71,756,705.67 |
| 2021 | 89,750,000 | €62,349,710.00 |
| 2022 | 89,750,000 | €61,874,637.00 |
The second table sets out the spend on afforestation for the categories of farmer, non-farmer, public/semi -state bodies and community/non-profit groups.
| - | Farmer | Non-Farmer | Public/Semi State Bodies | Community/ Non-profit Groups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | €45,744,203.00 | €15,829,736.00 | €255,098.00 | €45,600.00 |
| 2021 | €47,820,408.00 | €14,484,239.00 | €0.00 | €45,063.00 |
| 2020 | €56,434,428.00 | €15,123,729.00 | €0.00 | €198,548.67 |
| 2019 | €66,783,313.00 | €13,696,937.00 | €0.00 | €0.00 |
| 2018 | €74,431,190.00 | €12,102,422.00 | €0.00 | €119,903.45 |
The Deputy should be aware that private forestry companies do not receive direct payments from my Department but in very many cases the applicant will mandate grant payments to the forestry company undertaking the work on their behalf.
The Deputy should also note that under the 2014-2020 programme prolonged to 2022 there was no differential in premium rates or premium duration for farmers and non-farmers and as such no obligation on the application to provide such information. Therefore the statistics gathered are based only on those who declared themselves to be farmers and these numbers may not reflect the true number of farm forestry owners. The public planting in the table below was planting carried out under the Creation of Woodlands on Public Lands Scheme. The community/non-profit category is spending under the NeighbourWood scheme.
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