Leitrim remains county with the highest percentage of forestry cover

Leitrim remains the county with the highest percentage of forest cover (20.1%), while Cork has the largest forest area (92,471 ha) according to the latest statistics released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The figures have been compiled as part of Ireland’s fourth National Forest Inventory (NFI).

The figure for Leitrim marks a 1.2% increase on the previous figure which dates back to 2017.

Compared to neighbouring counties Leitrim has significantly higher percentages of land set aside for forestry. Ireland's NFI 2022 reveals there is 12.1% forest cover Sligo. In Roscommon this figure is 12.4% while in Donegal forest cover has reached 11.8%. In Cavan the figure for forest cover is 10.1% while in Longford the figure is 9.5%.

The 2022 study is the first time since the National Forest Inventory began, where more than half (411,484 ha or 50.9%) of forests in the Republic of Ireland are listed as being in private ownership. Some 397,364 hectares or 49.1% of forestry is in public ownership.

Conifer species remain dominant nationally representing 69.4% of the stocked forest area while broadleaved species account for 30.6% of national forestry. However it worth noting that the percentage of broadleaf forestry nationally is rising.

The NFI is undertaken every five years, and this is the fourth Inventory to be published.