Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2018
200. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the COFORD land availability for afforestation report (details supplied) which highlights nearly 200,000 ha of land that is technically suitable for afforestation; and if further work including preliminary work on the potential forestry use of this land has been carried out. [46394/18]
View answerThe “Land Availability for Afforestation” report authored by the COFORD Land Availability Working Group identifies the land resource that is potentially available for afforestation, and suggests ways to bring more of it under tree cover. Principal amongst these was the new site classification system for forestry, called the “Land Types for Afforestation” document which has been implemented since 2016. This approach examines the suitability of sites for afforestation based on scientific work centred on the scoring of vegetation as an indicator of soil fertility.
The introduction of the “Land Types for Afforestation” document has resulted in some previously ‘poor’ Grant & Premium Category (GPC) 1 land now being classified as ‘Unsuitable Land’. Therefore, there is less GPC 1 land being planted as a result of the new classification, 1.6% in 2016 and 0.8% in both 2017 and so far in 2018. However, the new procedure has also led to some previously ‘good’ GPC 1 land being planted as GPC 3 resulting in higher premiums for the land owner than would have been the case had the previous classification system been in place. It is difficult for the Department to quantify exactly how much more land has been planted as a result of the higher rates on offer in this scenario as approvals under the current regime, e.g. GPC 3, contain no reference to what the classification would have been under the previous regime, e.g. GPC 1.
My Department's overall approach to increasing forest cover is to continue to offer a generous suite of grants and annual premiums across all planting categories to incentivise landowners to convert part of their land to forestry. Under the recent midterm review, rates were increased across the board, broadleaf species attracting the highest increases. In fact broadleaf planting as a percentage of overall planting has increased from 21% in 2017 to 26% so far in 2018.
