C&AG: Targets to plant 8,000 hectares of trees a year need to be changed

The Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, said that to achieve this, 16,000 hectares a year would need to be planted. At the rate of 8,000 per year, it would take the department at least 50 years to reach the target.

An average 1,917 hectares a year was planted in 2023-2025, according to Department of Agriculture figures — a 76% shortfall from the climate action plan target.

Mr McCarthy said the “shortfall is so significant that it is difficult to see how the gap will be addressed under the current programme". 

The report recommended that the department should “realign its afforestation targets so that its short-, medium-, and long-term afforestation targets are consistent and achievable". 

It also found that no trees were planted on land owned by the Department of Agriculture; over half of the planting on public land (10 hectares) was owned by Uisce Éireann. The department paid Uisce Éireann €76,000 for ground preparation, drainage, fencing, and the initial planting of trees.

Mr McCarthy said the department spent €82m on forestry schemes, but it was “not possible to link the expenditure to each of the strategy’s objectives”. “This limits the department’s capacity to demonstrate cost-effectiveness,” he said.

There were 157 alleged felling incidents in 2025, 41 of which were identified “as a result of the department’s own monitoring processes". 

“There were two prosecutions and three replanting orders made. In 2024, there were 138 investigations, three prosecutions, and 14 replanting orders made,” he said.