Vol. 442 No. 5
151 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the percentage of land currently under afforestation in this country owned by Coillte and the private sector; and the amount of land Coillte has in its possession for future afforestation.
It is estimated that, at the end of 1993, there were some 525,000 hectares of land under afforestation in this country which is approximately 7.5 per cent of the land area. Of this total, 378,000 hectares are in Coillte hands (some 5.5 per cent of the land area) with the balance of 147,000 hectares held by the private sector (2 per cent of the land area).
Land acquisition by Coillte for future afforestation is a day-to-day matter for the company.
