The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has spent over €58.2 million so far this year on delivering the forestry supports.
The figure was revealed by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Michael Moynihan.
The minister said that the government has committed €1.3 billion in funding for the Forestry Programme 2023-2027.
He said that this is “in order to support our national ambition of 8,000 hectares of afforestation per year”.
“It also provides for a range of schemes to support the maintenance and sustainable management of forests,” he added.
Forestry
Minister McConalogue said that funding of €110 million and €91 million has been allocated to date, within Budget 2024 and 2025, respectively.
He said that up to October 10 this year there has been 1,302ha of new forests planted which covers trees being planted and first payments issued.
The minister also provided the following breakdown for the 2024 expenditure to date, relating to forestry scheme supports:
Forestry support Spending Afforestation, including Native Tree Area Scheme (NTAS) €52,413,853 Forest Roads €2,871,936 Reconstitution Schemes €2,809,105 Woodland Improvement Scheme €133,669 Total year-to-date (October 10) spend €58,228,562
The data shows that over €52.4 million has been spent by the department on afforestation, including the Native Tree Area Scheme (NTAS).
The minister said that €2.87 million in funding has been allocated to forestry roads.
Just over €2.8 million has been spent so far this year on reconstitution schemes, which include the Ash Dieback Reconstitution Scheme and the new Ash Dieback Climate Action Performance Payment, which was approved by the Cabinet on April 30 this year.