The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is now certain to miss its afforestation target this year, according to the Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA).
The latest forestry dashboard data, published by the department, shows that just 88ha has planted so far this month.
The department said that 997ha of land had been afforested up to last Friday (August 16), which was up 36ha on the previous week.
The figures for afforestation planted in 2024 only reflect afforestation that has been paid at first grant stage this year to date, including under the Native Area Tree Scheme (NTAS)
SEEFA
SEEFA said that the latest data marks “another inconsistent week for forestry, mirroring the year’s fluctuating trend between mediocre and poor results”.
“Planting continues to disappoint, with just 88ha planted this month. It is now beyond doubt that we will miss the annual target of 8,000ha, with the only question now being by how much,” the association said.
The department issued 15 afforestation licences last week, compared to just 5 in the previous week.
A total of 329 afforestation licences had been granted by DAFM up to August 16, corresponding to 2,769ha.
Some 438 valid afforestation applications have been submitted to the department so far this year.
Last week, 28 licences were issued for Coillte felling and 12 were issued for private felling.
The department has issued a total of 666 licences for felling on private plantations and 556 permits for felling on Coillte sites so far this year.
There were 34 licences issued last week for forestry roads, bringing the overall total to 576 licences issued by August 16 covering 217km of roads.
Forestry
The data shows that an additional 14 licences were granted for the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme bringing the total so far this year to 542 licences for 1,940ha.
There has been 277 licences issued for the NTAS (303ha) and 123 for the Woodland Improvement Scheme (WIS) covering 662ha.
Up to August 9, the department had received 37 afforestation appeals have been received by the department so far this year, along with 18 tree felling appeals and 6 in relation to forestry roads.