The Government is in the final stages of agreeing an overhaul of forestry grants with the European Commission, but the package is set to encourage further the planting of conifers over broadleaf trees, environmental groups have claimed.
The reforms will see significantly improved grants and premium payments, including those for broadleaf trees, for Irish growers. Negotiations led by the Minister of State for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Hugh Byrne, with officials of the agriculture directorate-general are due to conclude this week.
But an alliance led by the Voice environmental group has claimed the new package will not stand up to sustainability and biodiversity criteria in EU directives.
The Department of the Marine and Natural Resources has strongly denied the changes will favour conifer-planting, claiming "the incentive is bigger for broadleaves and that will be maintained at a higher level".
In a complaint to the commission, the Voice group says the changes proposed by the Irish authorities should be strongly resisted. An Taisce, Earthwatch, Friends of the Irish Environment, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council and Irish Wildlife Trust are also party to the complaint, which points out "the issue of species diversification is of critical importance" in the Republic.
It adds: "The current substantial increases proposed by the Irish authorities for grant aid encourage conifers as the cheapest species for planting with the quickest return, while reducing the differential in the grant between conifers and broadleaves."
The group claimed the additional payment in disadvantaged areas would now be as little as £15 an acre above the "attractive £145 an acre for conifers".
A spokeswoman for the alliance of organisations, Ms Jacinta French of the Voice campaign for sustainable forestry, said Ireland was already substantially at variance with other member-states in its preponderance of conifers over broadleaves based on EU-funded afforestation.
"The EU average is 40 per cent for conifers, with Ireland at 80 per cent. Our hardwood planting rate is 20 per cent against an EU average of 60 per cent."
The current substantial increases proposed for grant aid encourages conifers as the cheapest species for planting with the quickest return while reducing the differential in the grant between conifers and broadleaves, she claimed.
In a separate development, a campaign to promote sustainable forestry in Ireland has been opened. The Forests 2000 initiative will enrol companies in the timber trade and manufacturers of products using wood from sources that have been independently certified as "well-managed and sustainable".
Its chairman, Mr Domhnall Mac Domhnall, a director of True Temper garden tool manufacturers, said many Irish manufacturers and importers were conscious of public concern about threats to the world's forests by indiscriminate cutting of tropical and other forests.
They wished to play their part by sourcing wood from sustainable sources. The Republic imports up to £220 million of sawnwood, wood-based panels and roundwood annually.
This year's Tree Week from March 5th to 12th focuses on "Trees, spirits of a new age", and celebrates the relationship between people and trees throughout history. Organised by the Tree Council of Ireland and sponsored by Coillte and Pitney Bowes, it will include tree-planting marathons, woodland walks and environmental talks.
The Tree Council will send 15,000 saplings to local authorities for distribution to schools and communities. Ireland's tree cover, at only 8 per cent, is one of the lowest in Europe.
