AROUND ONE PER CENT of all the trees in Ireland’s forests fell down during the recent storms.
The bad weather, which was one of the worst storms in the country since Met Éireann started keeping records, felled between 5,000 and 7,000 hectares of forest, mainly in Munster.
Tom Hayes, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, said it would take Ireland’s sawmills between 8 and 10 months to process all the trees which were blown over.
The figures were put together by a special Government taskforce which was was set up to gather information about the extent of the forest damage. The taskforce made up of forestry interest groups has produced a guidance note for forest owners with advice on what to do next.
The group said that around 1 per cent of the forest volume has blown down, which equals just under 1 per cent of the forest area.
Hayes urged forest owners to get professional advice from qualified foresters about the large-scale destruction and said that there could still be value in the fallen trees.
“I fully understand the shock and anguish experienced by forest owners whose forests have been blown over by the recent storm,” he said.
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