DEAR EDITOR

Following on from the two recent storms Darragh and Éowyn, you printed a letter from Michael Boyle, Co Mayo on 7 June 2025. His message favoured planting young saplings in the flat ground rather than the mounding method currently used as the standard best practice for planting forestry.

Why is forestry mounding still allowed? Surely the drain created to make these mounds is only contributing to the problem.

Windblow is only one casualty of this practice. Don’t forget the destruction of spawning beds from tree needles. Where is the up-to-date research on planting options?

In the Irish Farmers Journal of 14 June, you printed a letter from Jim Costello, Co Kerry. In my opinion, he was incorrect to suggest there was a forestry policy to assist in the reform of the CAP.

No such policy to reduce or replace food mountains with forestry in the 1980s ever existed, either in Ireland or the EU.

As a retired forester of 50 years’ experience, he is correct to highlight the benefit of multispecies forests.

It is a pity these multispecies forests were not considered 50 years ago here in the northwest. Single species plantations where they are planted have destroyed the landscape for the most part.

On agroforestry, again I feel Mr Costello is wrong as the powers that be, whoever they are, have not attempted to sell this concept at all.

Coillte has a lot of questions to answer about their role in the management of State-owned forests.

I, for one, would like to know why Spruce trees were allowed to mature close to electricity lines? The safe zone under these lines could be used for holly, blackthorn and hazel etc.

In my opinion, if Coillte was left to pay for the full cost of the power outages caused by their negligence, not the ESB or the taxpayer, surely they would be more prudent in their decisions.

Has the polluter pays principle been forgotten?

There is an absolute urgency for the minister for forestry to show leadership and direct all new forests to have a large proportion of multispecies trees in the mix.

We also need to hear more from our farm organisations.