The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued just four afforestation licences last week relating to 29ha of new planting.
The Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) said that the number of afforestation licences issued has continued to fall for the third consecutive week.
The group said that the “shocking performance” came just a week after Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue stated that his department has capacity to issue sufficient licences to meet the annual target of 8,000ha of new forests.
“If his department can issue sufficient licences, then why is there still a backlog of over 100 licenses, some of which have been in the system for many years?
“Additionally, if the department currently has the capacity to process five times the number of licences, why are current license applications not being processed much quicker?” SEEFA asked.
“If the problem is not receiving enough applications, then we must investigate why the department’s current promotional activity is so ineffective and so expensive.
“We are currently on track to reach just 1,512 hectares [planted] this year, the worst annual performance in living memory. We must make changes now,” the organisation added.
DAFM
The Forestry Licencing Plan 2024 estimates that 1,000 afforestation applications are required to meet planting targets.
The latest forestry dashboard, published by the department, shows that 381 afforestation licences have been received up to July 19.
The data shows that 280 licences have been issued so far this year relating to 2,324ha.
The department said that 829ha of land had been afforested up to last Friday. In 2023, 1,652ha were planted, while afforestation stood at 2,273ha in the previous year.
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)
1,065 felling licences have been issued this year for a total of 12,416ha; 621 of the licences were for private forestry owners and 444 were granted to Coillte.
The department has issued 495 licences relating to 184km of forestry roads.
510 licences have been granted for the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme so far this year, covering 1,863ha.
There has been 173 Deer Tree Shelter scheme (DTS) licences granted (760ha), 260 for the NTAS (285ha) and 102 for the Woodland Improvement Scheme (WIS) covering 480ha.
The data shows that 33 afforestation appeals have been received by the department so far this year, along with 16 tree felling appeals and 6 in relation to forestry roads.