Prepared by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the report provides an annual compilation of statistics on the forestry sector in Ireland and the environment.
In 2022 an additional 2,273ha of new forests were created and while they will, ultimately, form a valuable part of our national forest estate – sequestering carbon, providing timber and creating new habitats – the minister conceded that it is well below the target number of 8,000ha per year.
But, she said: “I am confident that the new €1.3 billion Forestry Programme will mark a turning point for Irish forestry, and will unlock the potential for the sector to get back to planting 8,000ha per annum and more. One of the trends we can see from this report is that in the years that most recently exceeded the 8,000ha target, farmers were planting the vast majority of new forests in Ireland.” She said that the supports now in place for farmers in the new Forestry Programme – 20 years of payments at rates increased by between 44 per cent and 66 per cent ‘will reignite forestry as a real option to be incorporated as part of the farm enterprise’.
During 2022, felling licences were issued for the thinning of 25,044ha and the clear-felling of 23,009ha, which is the highest recorded volume of timber ever licenced for felling in a single year.
For the first time in the history of the state, there are more privately owned forests than publicly owned forests. In 2022, 49.1 per cent of forests were in State ownership, a reduction from 50.8 per cent in 2021.
Other key stats include:
- Forest cover is estimated to be at its highest level in over 350 years;
- Of the total forest area, 397,364ha or 49.1 per cent is in public ownership, mainly Coillte;
- The forest estate is comprised of 69.4 per cent conifers and 30.6 per cent broadleaves;
- Seventy per cent of the stocked forest area is less than 30 years of age;
- Farmers accounted for 82 per cent of private lands afforested between 1980 and 2022; and
- Leitrim is the county with the highest percentage of forest cover (20.1%), while Cork has the largest forest area (92,471 ha).