While €308 million has been approved by the European Commission for afforestation in Ireland, “ambiguity” remains over the remaining €1 billion of the Forestry Programme 2023-2027 still awaiting approval, according to Sinn Féin’s agriculture spokesperson, Claire Kerrane.
“It is a welcome update that the grant scheme for afforestation was approved by the European Commission,” she said.
“Yet, there remains a lot of ambiguity about the new Forestry Programme as a whole.”
The Roscommon-Galway TD told Agriland: “Last week a department official confirmed that discussions about support measures are still ongoing with the commission, and it is crucial that information on these is provided to the sector as soon as possible.
“If we are to rebuild confidence in the sector, farmers and foresters need assurances about the new Forestry Programme in its entirety.”
Afforestation
Kerrane said that figures published in Forestry Statistics Ireland 2022 report yesterday (Tuesday, August 22) by the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), highlight the government’s continued failure to delivery on forestry.
Deputy Kerrane said: “[The] report further underlines what we already know, that the government [has] failed and continues to fail to deliver on forestry.
“The newly published forestry sector statistics show that not only have key forestry metrics plummeted in recent years, they remain at some of the lowest levels of the past decade.
“There is an annual target of 8,000ha of afforestation, yet we are looking at a combined total of 6,723ha for the past three years.
“As well as this, the report starkly highlights the lack of confidence in the sector from farmers and foresters and the impact this has had on buy-in in recent years,” she added.
Kerrane pointed out that in 2017 there were 536 farmers involved in afforestation in the state, whereas this number has dropped to just 76 in 2022.
The Forest Statistics Ireland 2022 highlighted that farmers accounted for 82% of private lands afforested between 1980 and 2022.
“The statistics published today make clear that this government has mismanaged forestry,” she continued.
“We desperately need the new Forestry Programme in place, and yet it remains nowhere to be seen.”
Forestry programme
Minister of State at the DAFM with responsibility for land use, Pippa Hackett, said in a statement that the new forestry programme will “mark a turning point for Irish forestry”.
Kerrane referred to this in her own statement, and said: “The programme is nowhere to be seen and is now more than eight months overdue.
“There remains a lack of clarity and uncertainty about when that will be. Farmers and foresters have called for information to be provided on the status of the new programme but, this has not been provided.
“In fact, we are still awaiting further clarity on the approved €308 million for afforestation that was announced last week.
“Given the serious challenges facing the forestry sector, which are underlined by [the] Forestry Statistics report, it is alarming that the government have not provided the sector with further update on the status of other measures within the programme.”
Deputy Kerrane has called on Minister Hackett to provide an update on the new Forestry Programme in full.