Land price concerns should not be allowed to stop plans to establish new forests

Dr Catherine Conlon argues that ambitious afforestation plans to address climate targets should not be scuppered by arguments about the price of land

Deforestation over the past few thousand years has reduced Irish native forest to just 1% of the total land area. The current forest cover in Ireland remains at less than 12%, well below the European average. File picture: Denis Minihane

The Opposition has called for a halt to plans by the semi-state agency, Coillte, to sell thousands of acres of land in order to meet Ireland’s climate targets, with concern from rural TDs that farmers could be priced out of land.

Thousands of acres are expected to be sold to Gresham House as part of an afforestation deal with Coillte.