The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Lobbying Organisation The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Date published 19 Sep, 2025

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Finance

Period 1 May, 2025 to 31 Aug, 2025

Specific Details Measures to Support Farm Enterprises - Farm Forestry

Intended results To propose • If any percentage of the farm is dedicated to forestry, it should be defined as agricultural land, and the CAT Agricultural Relief applied to the whole farm. • Farm forestry is treated similarly to the Consanguinity and Young Trained Farmers Stamp Duty Reliefs as it is with CAT Agricultural Relief, where it is defined as agricultural land. • Where a non-farmer buys forestry, the normal commercial rate of stamp duty should apply to the full value of land and timber. This is required to ensure forestry remains primarily in the hands of genuine farmers. • The Payment Ecosystem Service (PES) payment under the new programme requires farmers to erode further productive areas to qualify. This is unacceptable and needs to be revised. Farmers should be compensated for managing the land necessary to enhance the area's biodiversity, including the preservation of broadleaf species and meeting environmental requirements. They should not need to erode productive regions to qualify for a payment. The PES rate should reflect the income foregone from timber production and must be extended beyond the 7-year payment. • Compulsory areas allocated for Ecosystem service as part of the current Forestry Programme must be compensated beyond the premium payment to reflect the income foregone for the duration the land is deemed to be an Ecosystem service provider. • The introduction of a Harvesting Plan Grant to assist forest owners with the increased costs and requirements associated with applying for a felling licence. • The current Ash Dieback Reconstitution Scheme represents an improvement over previous iterations of the scheme; however, further enhancements are still required. This includes flexibility in the payable clearance grant rate for older and more difficult sites, as recommended in the Independent Review of Ash Dieback Response, and a review of the Climate Action Performance Payment (CAPP) for farmers with older and larger ash woodlands. In October 2023 former Minister Pippa Hacket stated, "We will also publish a plan to implement the recommendations of the Ash Dieback Independent Review in the coming weeks." This action is yet to be carried out. • CAPP should be made available to forestry owners without having to apply through the Reconstitution Ash Dieback Scheme 2023-2027 scheme. • The introduction of a Roadside Ash Tree Removal Grant is urgently required to support farmers in safely removing diseased roadside ash trees. The grant should be administered by Local Authorities, who would be responsible for coordinating the safe removal of the trees by providing grants to support farmers in hiring relevant professionals to fell these trees safely. • The allocation of funding to establish a Forestry Development Agency to drive the industry, as in other natural resource sectors. It would be charged with optimising the performance of the Irish forest industry by providing technical expertise, business support, funding, training and promoting responsible environmental practice. The establishment of this Agency is critical to achieving the afforestation targets. • Agroforestry premium should be extended beyond 10 years to compensate for the loss of income forgone. • Green Certificate College Module should be included on Forestry – The introduction of a Forestry module to be included in all Green Certificate curriculums to encourage the next generation of farmers to view forestry as a farming practice. • Due to recent unprecedented storm events, windblown trees are now a pressing concern nationwide. It is estimated that the extent of damage to forests following storms Darragh and Eowyn, using the National Forest Inventory and Earth observation data, 23,900 ha of forestry. There is a need for Grant aid to be made available to all forest landowners affected by Windblow for the removal of Windblow timber, transportation costs as well as the replanting obligation. • A forestry budget, such as TAMS, whereby funding is ring-fenced for forestry equipment, including small attachments like sheers, rotators, grabs, forestry trailers with or without a built-on crane, and safety gear.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Francie Gorman IFA President, Padraig Stapleton IFA Forestry Chair, Amy Mulchrone IFA Policy Executive

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Mass communications

Letter All TDs

Submission All TDs

Letter All Senators

Submission All Senators

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (11-20)

Meeting (2-5)

Social Media (2-5)

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Brian Brennan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Brian Purcell Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture and the Marine)

Christopher O'Sullivan Minister of State (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)

Emer Higgins Minister of State (Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform)

Helen McEntee Minister (Department of Education)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill Minister (Department of Health)

Malcolm Byrne TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Martin Heydon Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Michael Healy-Rae Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Michael Moynihan Minister of State (Department of Education)

Noel Grealish Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Paschal Donohoe Minister (Department of Finance)

Peter Burke Minister (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)

Sean Canney Minister of State (Department of Transport)

James Browne Minister (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)