The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued a total of 32 forestry licences last week, over half of which were for private felling.

This marks a significant decrease on the 79 forestry licences issued in the previous week.

The Social, Economic, and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) said that the drop may largely be attributed to the Easter Bank Holiday.

"However, it serves as an important reminder that some weeks during the year will have lower numbers overall, and it is essential to maximise results elsewhere to ensure consistently high output.

"We hope that licensing continues to show signs of growth, as seen in the previous few weeks, after the Easter holiday period," the association said.

The latest forestry dashboard, published by the department, shows that 22 of the licences issued last week were for private felling and three were for Coillte felling.

Up to April 17, DAFM had issued a total of 266 private felling licences and 106 Coillte felling licences for a total of 4,624ha.

The department has received 279 private felling licence and 173 Coillte felling licence applications so far this year.

There were four licences issued for forestry roads last week, bringing the total for 2025 to 173 relating to 62km. The latest data shows that 37km of roads have been constructed this year.

The DAFM issued three afforestation licences last week, bringing the 2025 total to 163 covering 1,284ha. Some 111 valid applications have been received by the department.

A total of 749ha of forestry has been planted so far this year, with 364ha of that planted in March.

The latest forestry figures from DAFM note that the figures for afforestation planted in 2025 reflect afforestation that has been paid at first grant stage this year to date only, including the Native Area Tree Scheme (NTAS).

In 2024, 1,573ha of forestry was planted, down from 1,652ha in the previous year. The government has set an annual target of 8,000ha of new forestry in order to meet climate targets.

There have been 122 licences issued by the department so far this year for the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme, relating to 418ha.

70 licences have been approved for the NTAS (76ha), 22 for the Woodland Improvement Scheme (145ha) and 48 for the Deer Tree Shelter scheme (214ha).

Two licences have been issued for the Native Woodland Conservation Scheme this year for 17ha.