It was discovered that forestry covers a total of 32,000 hectares, or 20.1%, of the county's area. The research also discovered that 18.5% and 18% of the land in Wicklow and Clare, respectively, is used for forestry.

Co Louth, on the other hand, has just 2.9% of its area covered in forests. Cork, with 92,0000 hectares, is the county with the most amount of land covered with trees.

The Department of Agriculture's yearly report indicated that 11.6% of the nation is currently covered with trees, up from 1.4% when the State was founded.

Ireland, however, is falling short of the current average for forestry in other EU member states, which is 38.3%

Just 2,272 hectares of new forest were planted last year, significantly less than the government's climate action goal of 8,000 hectares annually with a goal of raising the overall amount of forest cover to 18% by 2050. Only 1,400 hectares have been planted so far this year.

The planting rates from the previous year, according to Minister of State with Responsibility for Forestry Pippa Hackett, were excessively low.

“While these new forests planted in 2022 will ultimately form a valuable part of our national forest estate and will play an important role in sequestering carbon, providing timber, and creating new habitats, last year's level of planting is far below where we ultimately need to be.”

As noted by Ms. Hackett, the recent approval of a new €1.3 billion forestry plan by the European Commission will mark a turning point for the industry.

“I think the programme will unlock the sector's potential to get back to planting 8,000 hectares per year and more,” she added.