The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has said salvaging windblow timber in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn must be a "priority".

IFA Farm Forestry chair, Padraig Stapleton said there was good engagement with the new Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, Michael Healy-Rae, at the second meeting of the Forest Windblow Taskforce this week (February 14, 2025).

The IFA highlighted to Minister Healy-Rae that there are precedents where governments in Norway and Germany responded to national emergencies, and that international help is essential.

According to the IFA, a satellite imagery assessment will be completed shortly. This piece of work will give an accurate picture of the scale of the damage.

The Forest Windblow Taskforce is made up of stakeholders representing forest owners, forestry companies, Teagasc, and Coillte.

The taskforce will plan around the prioritisation of felling licences in respect of storm damage and examine issues that arise in relation to the harvesting, haulage, and sawmilling of the blown trees.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has published windblow and storm damage guidance for forest owners, where an interactive forest planning model software has been developed to allow growers to input variables related to various scenarios.

Stapleton believes that in order to salvage as much timber as possible, the work must be coordinated.

“We need experts who have dealt with such a crisis before to help with the emergency plan. Ireland does not have enough skillsets to deal with the clean-up of salvageable timber," he said.

The forestry chair also believes market vulnerability "is now a pressing factor". He said the price of timber will significantly drop due to the supply of timber, and that the storage of timber is also an issue.

"We have to wait on the department to issue another circular to give us better clarity on the scale of damage and for the commitments given by the minister at the Windblow Taskforce meeting to be followed through," he concluded.