Healy-Rae encourages support for Irish Christmas tree sector
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with responsibility for forestry. Michael Healy-Rae is calling on the Irish public to buy homegrown Christmas trees this festive season.
The minister made the comments after meeting with Martin Kelleher and his son Darragh of Kelleher’s Christmas Tree Farm in Naas this week.
Minister Healy-Rae discussed how impressed he is with the Irish Christmas tree sector and how things have changed since he was selling Christmas trees almost 50 years ago.
He said: “As a young fella of about 10 years of age, I used to cut Christmas trees and deliver them on my bicycle around the parish.
“I’ll never forget the joy people had when a real tree arrived at their door.
“There’s a magic in the smell of a real Christmas tree in the house. It’s a tradition rooted in Irish homes for decades.”
Irish Christmas tree sector
The minister added: “I am encouraging the public to support the Irish Christmas tree sector by purchasing a real Irish Christmas tree this festive season.
“This will support our local producers who have put in seven to 10 years of dedicated work to produce top quality Christmas trees.
“Irish growers produce around 700,000 Christmas trees each year, with 450,000 sold at home and about 250,000 exported abroad, mainly to the UK.
“The sector contributes an estimated €21 million to the Irish economy annually.”
The minister highlighted the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's (DAFM's) Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector, which he said supports the sector by "grant-aiding capital investments in specialised equipment to manage and harvest the crop".
“The 2026 scheme is currently open for applications, and I would encourage growers to apply," the minister said.
Information on the scheme can be found on the DAFM website.
Windblow scheme
Earlier this week, the Social Economic Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) welcomed the announcement by Minister Healy-Rae of a windblow reconstitution scheme for private forest owners affected by Storm Darragh and Storm Éowyn earlier this year.
That scheme has been introduced to financially support forest owners with replanting forestry damaged by storms Darragh and Éowyn.
