Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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585. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine following the establishment of the Forest Windblow Taskforce, if the provision of financial supports to affected landowners is under consideration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9661/25]

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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586. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine following the establishment of the Forest Windblow Taskforce, if the price for logs will be monitored, following concerns that the prices may drop as a result of the windblow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9662/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 585 and 586 together.

My Department recognises that the recent storms Darragh and Éowyn, have caused varying degrees of damage around the country, including significant damage to trees.

Alongside Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae, I invited key stakeholders to participate in a taskforce to ensure that storm-damaged forests are managed safely and appropriately. The Taskforce is meeting regularly and working collaboratively to address issues arising.

My Department has completed an initial satellite assessment of damage to Irish forests from Storms Darragh and Eowyn and has estimated that the total area blown down will be in the region of 23,652 hectares. This initial damage estimate along with the more high-resolution satellite images that will become available over the coming weeks will inform any necessary next steps including the consideration of any potential support for affected forest owners.

Specifically around the price of wood products forest owners are encouraged to share price data with the Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA) and University College Dublin (UCD) which collects price data. This is published by the ITGA in the Wood Price Quarterly at www.itga.ie/services/information/wpq. Forest owners can contact UCD Forestry section at roundwooddatabase@ucd.ie. This information should help forest owners to make decisions regarding timber markets. The IFA also provide data on prices and my Department supports these initiatives.