Grants of up to €1,200/ha are available under the DAFM woodland scheme.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has paid out nearly €5.4 million under the Woodland Improvement Scheme since 2015.

The scheme provides a range of supports to forest owners to sustainably manage the potential of their forests, with the aim of fulfilling current and future relevant demands for wood and non-wood products.

Under the current Woodland Improvement Scheme, grants of up to €1,200/ha are available for five different measures:

Thinning and tending;
Agroforestry maintenance;
Continuous cover forestry (CCF);
Coppice and coppice with standards; and
Seed stand management.

Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, Michael Healy-Rae added that the scheme aims to "support the growing of high quality and high-value round wood timber for the timber industry while also delivering on the provision of ecosystem services such as biodiversity, soil, water protection".

The minister recently confirmed to Sinn Féin TD Conor D. McGuinness that a total of €5,394,336 was paid under the Woodland Improvement Scheme in the period from 2015 to June 30, 2025.

According to the data, the highest annual amount paid out under the scheme was in 2020 when €745,457 was issued.

Last year, some €273,000 was issued to participating forest owners, which is down from the €378,220 paid out in 2023.

Up to June 30 this year, a total of €132,769 had been issued to forest owners under the scheme.

The following table provides a county-by-county breakdown of how much has been paid out under the Woodland Improvement Scheme from 2015 to June 30, 2025:

The data shows that Tipperary was the county with the highest total payment under the scheme since 2015, with €677,000.

The Premier County is followed by counties Meath (€483,000), Westmeath (€481,000), Cork (€469,000) and Offaly (€450,000).

The lowest payments were made to Dublin (€19,773), Louth (€35,000), and Roscommon (€51,000).