Forestry Sector

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 March 2024

Thursday, 7 March 2024

Questions (297)

Michael Lowry

Question:

297. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 520 of 13 February 2024, to detail the area of clearfell and thinning that is the subject of a felling licence application to his Department that remains to be licensed per county for 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033, 2034, for the private sector, identifying broadleaf and conifer separately and the corresponding details for Coillte, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11254/24]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Felling licence applications may have an operational period of up to 10 years, with timings for harvesting events, whether thinning, clearfell or both, contained at periods within that. The following information has been obtained from Departmental records and where a licence application had both a thinning and clearfell event the hectares to be thinned or clearfelled are shown in their respective years. Some licence application areas may overlap between two counties. Please also note that Coillte licence applications currently only run to 2025 and represent two categories – Broadleaf high forest and Conifer high forest. 

2024-2034

As regards Coillte Thinning licence applications, the specific data required to provide a reply in the format requested by the Deputy is not immediately available. However the area covered by Coillte Thinning licence applications, currently with my Department, by county, are provided below. 

County	Hectares
Carlow	165.22
Carlow,Kilkenny	6.26
Cavan	1,121.72
Clare	76.59
Cork	1,691.87
Donegal	69.38
Dublin	12.20
Galway	179.48
Kerry	202.71
Kildare	74.02
Kilkenny	232.02
Laois	1,958.32
Laois,Offaly	103.11
Leitrim	175.00
Limerick	1,816.82
Mayo	4,908.38
Meath	117.52
Monaghan	2,140.94
Offaly	54.78
Roscommon	82.34
Sligo	44.72
Tipperary	1,061.04
Waterford	189.43
Westmeath	12.68
Wexford	590.98
Wicklow	191.46