Since I took office, storm Éowyn has been and remains my priority. As soon as the storm happened, I immediately set up the forest windblow taskforce to offer practical and timely solutions to those affected.

It was very important to me to hit the ground running on windblow damage. I want to deal with this bad situation — with nearly 24,000ha on the ground.

My approach is one of listening to and working with the affected people and stakeholders, and finding solutions to the harvesting and mobilising of windblow timber. I am working hard with the taskforce and my department to find solutions to all the issues arising.

The first task for forest owners affected by windblow is the safe clearance of sites. I ensured that owners could use their existing clearfell and thinning licences to do this work.

For those who do not have a felling or road licence, this is the time to apply for one. If they send in an application marked ‘storm damage’ to my department between now and the end of August, it will be prioritised and issued as quickly as possible.

There is a lot of information on the Department’s website, including frequently asked questions and a felling decision tool — which can be used by forest owners and their foresters to make decisions after this storm.

In previous storm situations such as this, some support to replant was offered. Now that we have an estimate of the scale of the problem, we can begin looking at options, including a reconstitution scheme.

A more detailed assessment of the plots affected is under way and this more accurate information will feed into my Department’s consideration of a reconstitution scheme.

I want to reassure those owners that carry out clearance or replanting, that it will not count against them if we introduce a reconstitution scheme.

We recently launched a Forestry Knowledge Transfer Scheme and I would encourage forest owners to join one of these groups, which will be announced before the end of March.

Wood mobilisation options is one of the mandatory subjects and useful peer-to-peer learning, as well as expert advice can be gained from active participation by forest owners in the current situation.

As for the price of wood products, I would encourage forest owners to share price data with the Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA) and with University College Dublin (UCD) at roundwooddatabase@ucd.ie. These prices are published on the ITGA website (itga.ie) as wood price quarterly (WPQ) and could help forest owners to make decisions regarding timber markets.

I am aware of issues with the mobilisation of wood, such as transport costs due to the concentration of storm damage in the northwest and the potential long distance haulage of this material to mills in the south. There is also the fact that harvesting in windblow sites is slower and more costly per cubic metre.

All such concerns are being discussed within the taskforce. I would say to forest owners that they should not rush to harvest, as windblown trees will retain their value for up to 18 months when the roots are still attached to the ground.

We are also engaging with Bord na Móna in relation to pulp and biomass, so that maximum use can be made of Irish produce. My Department is also part of a taskforce, set up by myself, ministers Martin Heydon and Joe O’Brien, which is looking at issues around the interaction of forestry and powerlines. It’s important that we mitigate against the effects of such storms and the ESB is working on a winter resilience plan for 2025.

I know that communities and forest owners have endured terrible hardship during this recent storm. I will continue to work closely and tirelessly with all stakeholders, especially forest owners, to address the issues they now face and to secure a future for forestry in Ireland.