Eoghan Daltun: Ireland's forestry policy needs a radical rethink — here's why and how

Our most commonly planted timber crop is sitka spruce — these are dark, dead worlds where life is driven out for maximum productivity and profit

Left: Eoghan Daltun's native rainforest in Beara, West Cork. Right: sitka plantation for outdoors

Last week, the EU approved the Irish government’s Draft Forestry Plan, which aims to increase our level of ‘ woodland’ cover from 11 to 18% of land area. Given that the planet is in a dire climate and ecological crisis, this might appear wonderful news, but it’s actually the very opposite. Why?

Because the vast bulk of the trees envisaged will be non-native conifers and, like 90% of what we already have, these won’t be forests at all, but industrial plantation deadzones.