Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 October 2017
150. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers and non-farmers participating in planting schemes under the forest programme 2014 to 2020. [43355/17]
View answerMy Department publishes annual Afforestation statistics, which are available on its website. Those statistics include numbers of farmers and non-farmers who participate in afforestation planting each year. A breakdown of numbers is indicated in the table below, for 2014 to 2016, which are the most recent available figures.
It should be noted that the non-farmer category is primarily made up of recently retired farmers or the family members of the landowner in question. On that basis I am satisfied that the vast bulk of the investment under the programme is delivered to, and remains in, rural Ireland.
|
Year |
Farmer |
Non-Farmer |
|
2014 |
950 |
49 |
|
2015 |
852 |
130 |
|
2016 |
652 |
357 |
