Private foresters have warned of gridlock in the industry as planting applications are effectively being stonewalled because of delays with the new €1.3bn forestry programme.

New applications for afforestation are not being accepted by the Department of Agriculture because the Government’s forestry programme has not been approved by the European Commission.

Private forestry body Social, Economic, Environmental Forestry Association (SEEFA) said small areas of forestry approved last year under the old forestry regime are moving ahead to planting. These are being funded under interim or de minimis rules.

However, SEEFA maintained that afforestation applications lodged since January 1 are not being accepted by the Department, as there is currently no EU-approved forestry programme.

“In January, foresters attempted to submit applications online as normal, only to be met with an error message that new applications are currently not accepted,” a spokesperson for SEEFA told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Jobs in the forestry sector are being lost as a result and the situation will deteriorate further the longer this continues

“We currently find ourselves in the unprecedented situation that forestry is closed to new applicants. Not only does this affect private landowners who want to plant or carry out operations on their forests, but worryingly, jobs in the forestry sector are being lost as a result and the situation will deteriorate further the longer this continues,” the spokesperson added.

The Department recently admitted that the final submission of its new forestry programme was “a matter of weeks away.”

This means that final approval for the new programme from Brussels could be delayed until June at the earliest and possibly until August or September.

New forestry applications will be locked out during this period, despite the Department’s stated aim of increasing planting levels to 8,000ha per annum from this year.

“I’m in this industry since the early 1990s and I can safely say it has never been in a worse condition or more dysfunctional than now. These are the darkest days,” one private forester said.

The Irish Farmers Journal asked the Department of Agriculture if it was accepting new afforestation applications, but no reply had been received as we went to press.