No increase in forestry scheme

INCREASING the number of landowners in the forestry grant and premium schemes will not be part of the plan to lift planting to 10,000 hectares per year, revealed Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith last week.

“We are at a stage now where we have reached the maximum number of participants in the scheme,” he told the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. New entrants will be left into the scheme as people exit after completing their premium period.

“Up to now our graph of expenditure was increasing all the time, because no one was exiting the scheme or completing their term,” said Mr Smith, during a debate on greenhouse gas emissions.