Forest Industries Ireland (FII), the national representative body for the forestry and timber sectors within Ibec, has launched its manifesto for the upcoming general election.

The document, entitled “Forestry for our Future: Delivering on the potential of Irish forestry”, calls on the next government to reinvigorate new forest planting and promote more building with wood.

According to FII, Ireland is lagging behind other countries in green construction.

The group pointed to other governments across Europe which are incentivising timber construction with green public procurement policies and appropriate building regulations.

The French government has implemented a sustainability law that requires 50% timber in public buildings.

FII noted that 12% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions stem from construction.

As part of Budget 2025, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) was allocated €91 million for forestry, down from €110 million in the previous budget.

"This reflects the reduction in new forestry activity and fewer forestry premiums having to be paid out to farmers under the Forestry Programme. It is a clear sign that forestry activity is going in the wrong direction," FII said.

The group said that the Afforestation Scheme is achieving 2,000ha of annual planting, when the government target is 8,000ha.

"We need to reduce bureaucracy, improve accessibility, and speed up licensing. Currently, forestry can’t compete with other land uses and agriculture schemes – a rebalancing of incentives is needed," it added.

Although a date has not yet been confirmed for the next general election, Taoiseach Simon Harris has now stated that he expects the country will be going to the polls before Christmas.

The leaders of the three coalition parties in the current government are due to meet this evening (Monday, October 21).

Ahead of the next general election, FII has issued five "calls to action" for the next government in its manifesto, including:

Dramatically increase afforestation by changing agricultural incentives and improving the Forestry Programme;
Make more land available for forestry by reducing land restrictions and creating a proactive national land use strategy which promotes more forest cover;
Support the planting of conifers and productive commercial forests to ensure long-term timber supplies for Irish housing and construction;
Promote the use of Irish wood in construction through green public procurement and changes to the building regulations;
Create a new, independent, Forestry Development Agency to promote and develop the forest sector.

Launching the manifesto, Mark McAuley, Director of Forest Industries Ireland said, “If the government is serious about large scale tree planting, we need to take a fresh look at what are farmers are being incentivised to do and tip the balance more towards tree planting.

"We also have a huge problem with too much land being ineligible for the Forestry Programme.

"There are blanket restrictions in place and these should be replaced with a more site-specific approach. Forestry cannot compete for the best agricultural land, so we have to plant marginal lands," he said.

McAuley said that government capital expenditure on housing is €2.7 billion this year.

"For every 100,000 scheme houses built using timber frame rather than masonry, we reduce carbon emissions by over 600,000 tonnes. But we have to keep planting productive forests if we are to build timber homes into the future," he said.