Forestry consultants claim State service breaches EU competition law

Irish forestry consultants have made a formal complaint to the European Commission, alleging that the Government is in breach of the bloc’s competition rules by funding and operating a forestry advisory service which is offered free of charge to farmers and landowners here.

Forestry is the largest land-based climate change mitigation measure available to Ireland in its bid to radically reduce carbon emissions by 2030. The Government has a target of planting 8,000 hectares of forestry each year out to 2030. The actual out-turn last year, however, was just 2,016 hectares.

Despite the low and decreasing rate of forestry planting “there are up to 20,000 forest owners, mostly farmers, and as much of the area planted is relatively young, there is a great need for these areas to be effectively managed in order to achieve their full potential,” Mr Houlihan said. “The department provides funding to a wide range of organisations, land owners and forestry companies which provide services aimed at improving the management of forests and encouraging more land owners to establish new forests,” it said, noting there were more than 23,500 private forest owners who have established forests since the 1980s.

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