The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has issued 18 afforestation licences in the week ending on Friday, December 6, which is an increase on last month.
On average, 10 afforestation licences were issued every week last month, ranging between five and 14 licences each week. In total, last month’s licences allowed for 284ha of new plantings.
To date this year, 560 afforestation licences have been issued, allowing for planting of 4,417ha. Latest figures also show that an area of 1,539ha has been planted so far in 2024.
While the DAFM’s Forestry Licensing Dashboard does not show how many hectares the 18 afforestation licences issued make up, it shows that 23ha were planted last week.
In addition to the planting licences, the DAFM has issued a total of 924 private felling licences, 985 Coillte felling licences, as well as 814 road licences year-to-date.
This includes 15 private felling licences, 10 Coillte felling licences, and seven road licences issued last week, which are all below their averages issued in November.
The Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) welcomed the improvement in afforestation licences issued after a “very poor” November.
While the higher number of planting licences is encouraging, SEEFA said the overall weekly result remains “disappointing”, with only 50 licences issued across all categories.
“These figures do not suggest a sector making substantive gains,” SEFFA said, adding that “greater consistency and transparency” is required from the DAFM.
“It remains unclear why isolated periods of higher performance cannot be maintained, and why they must be followed by extended periods of limited progress.
“Without clear explanations and a more sustained effort, the industry will continue to face challenges in meeting its targets,” the private forestry sector group said.
The area planted this year remains far below the annual target of 8,000ha as set out in Ireland’s Climate Action Plan. In 2022 and 2023, 2,273ha and 1,652ha were planted respectively.