Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said that the forestry figures recently published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) for 2023 highlights “ministerial incompetence”.
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.
In 2023, 1,651ha of forestry was planted, far short of the government’s annual target of 8,000ha of new forests by 2027.
Deputy McGrath said that the dashboard “paints a bleak picture”.
“This is a stark testament to the inability of minister for agriculture Charlie McConalogue and Minister for State Pippa Hackett to uphold their commitments,” the deputy said.
“It’s a bitter irony that our agriculture ministers hold farmers to stringent emission reduction targets, yet they fall drastically short of their forestry planting targets outlined in the climate action plan,” Deputy McGrath added.
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.
Deputy McGrath said that in terms of afforestation licenses, 2023 was “the worst on record”.
Forestry figures
The figures show that 922 private felling licence applications were 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.
DAFM recently published its forestry licencing plan for 2024 which estimates that the department will issue 4,200 new licences this year.