Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 May 2026
406. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide a list of the public bodies participating in the Planting on Public Lands initiative; the total hectares identified for afforestation under this initiative; and the number of hectares planted to date. [33491/26]
View answerMy Department is leading a Planting on Public Lands initiative as part of the implementation of the Forestry Programme 2023–2027. The initiative supports public bodies in identifying suitable lands for planting, navigating technical and regulatory requirements, and aligning projects with appropriate forestry schemes, including the Forest Creation on Public Lands (FT3), Native Woodland Conservation, and NeighbourWood schemes.
This provides a structured pathway for public bodies to contribute directly to national afforestation targets as well as climate action, biodiversity enhancement and community wellbeing.
Phase 1 of this initiative commenced in July 2025 with letters to 82 public bodies identified as owning land with potential for afforestation. This was followed by structured engagement with a range of public bodies over the past year, including local authorities, education and training boards (ETBs), state agencies and semi-state organisations.
To date, 33 of these bodies have formally engaged with my Department as per the table below:
|
Public Organisation |
|
Donegal ETB |
|
Meath County Council |
|
Horse Racing Ireland |
|
Kerry ETB |
|
Kerry County Council |
|
Limerick City & Council |
|
Tipperary County Council |
|
Fingal County Council |
|
Land Development Agency |
|
Enterprise Ireland |
|
ESB Generations |
|
ESB Networks |
|
Department of Defence |
|
CIE |
|
University of Galway |
|
Roscommon County Council |
|
Waterford County Council |
|
Irish Water |
|
Health Service Executive |
|
Wexford County Council |
|
South Dublin County Council |
|
Wicklow County Council |
|
Inland Fisheries Ireland |
|
The Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine |
|
The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport |
|
Carlow County Council |
|
The Minister for Justice and Equality |
|
The Minister for Health |
|
Sligo County Council |
|
Cork ETB |
|
TUS Midwest |
|
Westmeath County Council |
|
Louth County Council |
Whilst engagement with all these Public Bodies is ongoing, sixteen have either submitted, or are submitting applications representing a total area of 338 hectares.
The following have already undertaken begun planting under Forest Type 3:
|
Public Body |
Hectares Planted |
|
Public Body |
Hectares Planted |
|
Wexford County Council |
5.41 |
|
Meath County Council |
7.66 |
|
Limerick City & County Council |
0.60 |
|
Irish Water |
15.93 |
|
Total |
29.60 |
Building on this success, the second phase of the Planting on Public Lands initiative is now underway, focusing on embedding afforestation within complementary climate and biodiversity frameworks, positioning forest creation on public lands as an integrated component of wider Government policy objectives.
