Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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1299. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current level of biomass activity. [38269/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Biomass covers a wide range of materials and processes, including purpose-grown energy crops, forest thinning, waste material and timber by-products. My Department supports the development of the biomass sector by providing a range of supports for the growing of biomass supply and wood mobilisation, in respect of which supports are included in the new Forestry Programme 2023-2027.

Each year the Central Statistics Office carries out a number of surveys related to forest and wood removals. One of these is the Wood Input Purchases by Industry, which is based on data collected from the 2021 Wood Inputs Survey. The survey was designed to capture information on purchases of roundwood and non-roundwood forest products from forests in Ireland. As part of the survey, roundwood that is purchased to be used for energy purposes is recorded. For 2021, the roundwood for use as biomass was estimated at 622,000 cubic metres based on the latest available information from the Central Statistics Office.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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1300. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the projected biomass activity by 2030. [38270/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In 2021, the National Council for Forest Research & Development (COFORD) produced an All Ireland Roundwood Production Forecast for the period 2021-2040. The forecast predicts that the annual potential roundwood supply will increase from 4.7 million cubic metres in 2021 to 6.7 million cubic metres by 2030.

The roundwood production forecast also contains three main sources of raw material for wood energy – small roundwood, wood residues from the processing sector and harvest residues (including branches and some harvest loss material) on suitable sites. The use of post-consumer recovered wood (PCRW) is outside the scope of the report.

The forecast for Wood Fibre and its potential for wood energy in the Republic of Ireland is estimated to be 1.9 million cubic metres by 2030 - an increase from the forecast 1.5 million cubic metres in 2023.

My Department will continue to encourage policies, steps and measures to increase the use of wood and wood products in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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1301. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current amount of land being used in biomass production. [38271/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Biomass covers a wide range of materials and processes, including purpose-grown energy crops, forest thinning, waste material and timber by-products.

Ireland's forests provide the main source of biomass. Our forest estate covers 11.6 % of the land surface and amounts to over 808,848 hectares. A significant amount of this area will produce biomass over its lifetime when forests are managed for commercial purposes. Some forests managed for amenity and biodiversity will not produce any biomass. My Department does not retain figures for exact areas of biomass production and reports timber production and its assorted products based on national projections.

The Council for Forest Research and Development (COFORD) provides estimates of forecast supply of Wood Fibre. It states that there is potential to produce wood energy from biomass in Ireland and estimates that the latter will rise to 1.9 million cubic metres by 2030, an increase from the forecast 1.5 million cubic metres in 2023.

My Department will continue to encourage policies, steps and measures to increase the use of wood biomass from thinnings where they support the sustainable management of forests.