Forestry Sector

Thursday, 30 April 2026

Questions (388, 389)

Brian Brennan

Question:

388. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the area of Sitka spruce planted compared to the broadleaves and native conifers planted by area each year, including the 20% broadleaves within the Sitka spruce plantations, since 2016, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31717/26]

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Brian Brennan

Question:

389. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number and area of monoculture Sitka spruce forests his Department has grant aided, by year since 1993, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31719/26]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 388 and 389 together.

The total forest area in Ireland is composed of 69% conifers and 31% broadleaves. The most prominent broadleaf species consist of willow and birch, followed by ash, oak and alder. Sitka spruce is the most common conifer tree species in Ireland, occupying 45% of the total forest area.

In 1993 Sitka spruce was the dominant species planted representing 81% of the area afforested that year. Whilst in 2025, Sitka spruce represented 29% of the area planted. In area terms there has been a 95% reduction in the planting of Sitka spruce from 12,970 hectares in 1993 to 701 hectares in 2025. In 2016 the area of Sitka spruce planted was 4,554 hectares. In 2025, nearly two-thirds (65.9%) of the area was afforested with broadleaves, mostly native broadleaves.

Successive forestry programmes included criteria to ensure that multiple tree species were used in every new forest. Initially, criteria established minimum requirements for mixtures and overtime expanded to include a minimum requirement for broadleaves. My Departments current forestry programme 2023-2027, provides land-owners with the opportunity to plant a wide range of forest types, which include native and non-native species so that forests can provide the wide range of benefits required by society. Those who wish to plant a new forest of Sitka spruce must plant 20% broadleaves and in addition 15% of the area is normally left unplanted for biodiversity (this includes setbacks from hedgerows, unplanted strips along streams and roads etc).

Information is provided in the table below on the area of species planted each year as part of the afforestation programme from 1993 to 2025. Further information on forest species composition is available on my Department’s website in the annual forest sector statistics publication.

Area (hectares) of Species Planted Annually from 1993 to 2025

Year	Sitka spruce	Norway spruce	Larch	Scot's Pine	Other pine	Other conifer	Oak	Alder	Ash	Birch	Birch	Other broadleaf
1993	12,970	178	223	21	1,015	60	180	51	692	103	103	506
1994	13,614	1,312	437	72	1,644	135	482	42	781	118	118	825
1995	14,896	2,632	659	70	2,199	118	548	51	1,343	105	105	1,089
1996	13,487	1,832	723	103	1,973	181	482	98	966	47	47	1,089
1997	6,548	1,128	588	194	1,229	45	350	136	588	57	57	570
1998	6,802	1,663	1,157	326	894	136	383	204	693	132	132	537
1999	7,038	1,575	1,135	243	600	100	296	292	773	149	149	468
2000	9,432	1,270	1,923	289	523	46	228	361	898	195	195	529
2001	9,242	1,185	2,049	276	476	49	256	497	835	216	216	384
2002	8,374	1,112	1,894	331	421	60	487	789	948	202	202	436
2003	4,701	503	1,140	224	188	29	317	773	623	85	85	515
2004	4,937	508	1,221	192	254	26	343	841	681	61	61	675
2005	4,805	708	1,229	186	131	56	408	967	883	64	64	658
2006	3,556	608	980	224	121	71	433	432	796	n/a (not available)	n/a (not available)	815
2007	2,993	472	815	192	150	23	396	559	652	n/a	n/a	551
2008	2,413	426	717	255	117	65	401	675	569	n/a	n/a	582
2009	2,565	389	689	276	67	47	444	670	615	n/a	n/a	649
2010	3,267	539	894	189	108	53	710	793	865	n/a	n/a	664
2011	3,200	535	197	115	30	4	580	544	762	n/a	n/a	508
2012	3,576	570	160	113	30	16	549	347	605	n/a	n/a	512
2013	3,903	523	116	76	26	11	571	285	52	n/a	n/a	570
2014	3,992	485	124	52	37	24	521	243	11	n/a	n/a	563
2015	4,231	521	84	72	23	25	379	263	4	294	294	315
2016	4,554	449	53	50	21	11	412	200	1	162	162	490
2017	3,855	333	20	58	3	15	329	242	1	148	148	433
2018	2,644	196	5	42	3	7	335	162	6	162	162	395
2019	2,377	152	3	48	2	6	230	110	6	168	168	371
2020	1,422	64	3	63	3	11	217	85	0	162	162	339
2021	1,018	62	0	57	1	7	268	77	0	172	172	293
2022	1,116	69	0	63	0	4	301	85	0	184	184	359
2023	636	37	0	55	1	2	275	97	0	195	195	302
2024	611	9	0	52	0	4	204	91	0	215	215	309
2025	701	10	0	96	1	14	477	222	0	392	392	510

Question No. 389 answered with Question No. 388.