SEEFA: Just 69 afforestation licences issued so far in 2025
The Social, Economic, and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) has hit out at the number of afforestation licences issued so far this year.
Last week, just four afforestation licences were issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
This brings the total for February to 12 and the annual total to 69 licenses covering 466ha.
"To put these numbers into perspective, in order to hit the annual afforestation target of 8,000 hectares, we would need to be at about 1,080 hectares, which would require issuing more than twice as many licenses.
"This comes at a time when ease of afforestation is more crucial than ever after recent storms and years of underplanting," SEEFA said.
DAFM issued 57 afforestation licences in January, relating to 389ha. This marks an increase on the 351ha which were issued with licences in the same month last year.
The department had received 54 valid afforestation licences up to last Friday (February 14).
184ha of forestry has been planted since the start of 2025. However, the department noted that this figure reflects afforestation that has been paid at first grant stage this year to date only, including the Native Area Tree Scheme (NTAS).
The latest forestry dashboard, published by the department, also shows that officials have issued 106 private felling licences and 32 Coillte licences covering a total of 2,091ha.
"Whilst private felling licensing is up, it is still insufficient to meet standard industry requirements, never mind post-storm recovery," SEEFA said.
There have been 101 applications for private felling and 173 applications from Coillte for felling.
"SEEFA has reached out to the department multiple times in the past six months regarding licensing issues and has proposed solutions. However, no action has been taken yet," the association said.
60 licences have been issued for 22km of forestry roads this year. The data shows that 17km of forestry roads were constructed by February 14.
There have been 40 licences issued by the department so far this year for the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme, covering 137ha.
21 licences have been approved for the NTAS (26ha), 13 for the Woodland Improvement Scheme (78ha) and three for the Deer Tree Shelter scheme (29ha).
One licence has been issued for the Native Woodland Conservation Scheme this year for 5ha.
