Average of 60 forestry licences issued per week in July

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has issued an average of 60 forestry licences per week for all of July, as well as the first three weeks in August.

So far this month DAFM has issued a total of 189 forestry licences, however only one of these licences allowed for afforestation.

The number of afforestation licences issued so far this year stands at 11, while 60 applications have been received.

A total of 138ha was planted so far this month, bringing the total to 1,158ha this year to date.

A total of 3km of forest roads has been constructed so far in August, bringing the total to 42km for the year to date.

In response to the latest figures, the Social, Economic Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) said that an average of 60 licences per week was “way below the target” of 100 per week, which was set by DAFM 2022.

The number of licences issued per week for all of July and so far in August can be seen below:

	July	August
Week 1	80	64
Week 2	54	52
Week 3	59	73
Week 4	39	N/A

SEEFA said the licencing system is “dysfunctional, insufficient to serve the industry, and unable to achieve government policy”.

“The department’s inability to issue sufficient licences in a timely manner will be a major impediment in the next forestry programme,” it stated.

The recently approved afforestation measure as part of Ireland’s new €1.3 billion Forestry Programme 2023-2027 will open for applications in the coming weeks.

The target of the measure is to reach 18% forest cover in Ireland by the end of 2027, compared to 11.6% today.

Under the afforestation scheme, the aid will take the form of direct grants, covering up to 100% of the eligible costs.

The scheme will run until December 31, and will be open to companies of all sizes in the forestry sector.

A date for the opening of applications has not been provided yet.