The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued 88 afforestation licences in 2023, compared to over 700 in the previous year.
The most recent Forestry Licensing Dashboard published by the department shows that 165 afforestation licence applications were made in 2023, down from around 440 in 2022.
The afforestation licences issued cover 789ha, compared to 4,972ha in 2022 and 4,246ha in 2021.
The department also said that 99 afforestation licences relating to almost 850ha, which were previously approved, are now approved under the new forestry programme.
288 afforestation applications were approved under the de minimis scheme which was in place prior to the new forestry programme securing EU Commission approval.
In 2023, 1,651ha of forestry was planted, far short of the government’s annual target of 8,000ha of new forests by 2027.
DAFM noted that the figures for trees planted in 2023 reflect afforestation that had been paid at first grant stage last year.
In 2022, 2,273ha of forestry was planted, while 2,016ha was planted in the previous year.
DAFM
The figures show that 922 private felling licence applications made to the department in 2023, with 1,427 licences issued.
Coillte made 1,078 applications for felling, with 1,411 licences granted to the State-owned forestry company.
520 applications were made for forestry roads, with 243 licences being issued last year.
There were 12 appeals related to afforestation in 2023, 32 in relation to tree felling and two concerning forest roads.
The department approved 203 applications under the Reconstitution of Ash dieback scheme (RADS) covering nearly 840ha.
DAFM recently published its forestry licencing plan for 2024 which estimates that the department will issue 4,200 new licences this year.
It confirmed that the department has capacity to issue sufficient licences to meet its annual target of 8,000ha of new forests.
DAFM have estimated that there will be 1,000 afforestation applications next year, which would be the required number of afforestation applications to be received in order to meet targets.