asked the Minister for Lands if he will state in respect of the constituency of Sligo-Leitrim the total acreage of forests, the number of acres of land at present in the possession of the Forestry Branch for planting, the number of acres proposed to be planted in 1962, and the number planted in each of the years 1957 to 1961 inclusive.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sligo-Leitrim Forestry Operations.
55.
Forestry statistics are kept on a county basis. The present total area of the eight State Forests in Counties Sligo and Leitrim is 25,300 acres, of which a total of 20,100 acres is classified as productive. Of this, a total of 15,400 acres has been planted to date, leaving a nominal plantable reserve of 4,700 acres. The planting programme provisionally arranged for the Sligo/Leitrim Forests for 1962/63 totals 1,631 acres.
The areas planted in Counties Sligo and Leitrim in the past five years were as follows:—
1957/58, 1,222 acres; 1958/59, 1,658 acres; 1959/60, 1,806 acres; 1960/61, 2,081 acres; 1961/62, 1,602 acres.
It is very difficult to see them.