Harvesters are now beginning to remove the blown trees after storm Éowyn, while the first Teagasc field days are in place for April.

Other organisations are collaborating in putting together field days and information events to help growers optimise the value of their windblown crops.

Now that further information is available on the extent and ownership of windblown forests, a national windblow strategy is a priority. A number of organisations, led by the ITGA, have called for a strategy that needs to include a short- to medium-term approach that addresses timber mobilisation, harvesting and marketing, led by a forest storm manager.

Ireland will require help from overseas to harvest the windblown timber. Sweden, which has huge resources adopted a strategic approach to harvesting and pricing after storm Gudrun in 2005.

Within weeks of the storm, the first contract companies from 15 countries had arrived to harvest the blown timber and some stayed on to replant the cleared forests.

Ireland has over two years’ timber harvest blown, and two months after the storm overseas help has yet to arrive, which will also be required to replant the 23,652ha of windblown forests.

Pricing is a sensitive area which the taskforce has limited control over, but it can ensure equitability and transparency in timber measurement.

Regarding price, Södra Skogsägare, Sweden’s largest forest owners association, provided upfront payments before timber was harvested. Could Irish mills provide such guarantees?

It made sense to Södra because despite pressure to change species, its members replanted with 87% Norway spruce, Sweden’s core tree species.

The strategy also needs an efficient felling licence system and restoration plan. While the minister’s reticence in committing to a Reconstitution Scheme is understandable at this early stage, he needs to provide clarity sooner rather than later on reconstitution funding.