Coillte 'on target' to complete storm damage recovery
Coillte said it is making "good progress" working on forestry which was damaged during Storm Éowyn last year.
The storm, which brought hurricane force winds to Ireland in January 2025, impacted over 26,000 hectares (ha) of Ireland’s forests.
Storm Éowyn "extensively impacted" approximately 14,500ha of the Coillte estate.
"We’re making good progress and are on target to complete the storm damage recovery in 2027," a spokesperson for Coillte told Agriland.
"We engaged with our existing contractors in the first instance, to assess if they had the capacity to scale up, which many of them have done.
"However, given the scale and complexity of the salvage operation we have also deployed a small number of international contractors as well," they added.
Coillte
The semi-State forestry company previously said the impact on its productive forests, biodiversity forests and recreation forests and trails will cost over €60 million.
Coillte said that the only external funding that has been sought is in relation to the storm damage is for some outdoor recreation projects.
In August, Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary announced details of €4 million in funding to support the development of new infrastructure projects and the maintenance of existing trails on Coillte lands.
"This included €1.4 million in funding towards the ongoing cost of repairing trails that were damaged by Storm Éowyn," the Coillte spokesperson said.
Storm Éowyn
In December, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon and Minister of State for forestry Michael Healy-Rae announced a new reconstitution scheme for private forest owners affected by Storm Darragh and Storm Éowyn.
The €55 million Reconstitution Scheme for Windblow (RSW) will provide financial support for windblown forests as a result of the storms.
This involves the restoration of wind-damaged forest areas following tree clearance.
