Forested land across County Galway equivalent to 3,000 rugby pitches was destroyed or damaged by the most violent winter storms in 60 years, according to unofficial estimates by forestry officials.
Staff in the Department of Agriculture are currently trawling through European Space Agency satellite images to determine the devastation to forestry across County Galway, estimated to be one of the worst hit counties alongside Mayo and Leitrim during the two storms.
More than 26,000 hectares (64,000 acres ) of forestry across the Republic of Ireland were heavily impacted by storms Darragh and Éowyn in December and January, according to analysis of imagery acquired from the Sentinel and SkySat satellite constellations.
Michael Healy-Rae, minister of state with responsibility for forestry, confirmed 14,500 hectares of Coillte forestry suffered considerable wind damage, alongside 11,550 hectares of privately owned forest estates.
With over 10 per cent of Galway’s land area forested, and the county receiving the highest ever recorded gusts of 184kmph during Storm Éowyn in late January, officials attached to a government task force dealing with storm damage said initial estimates suggest more than 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres ) of forestry in County Galway was destroyed by Éowyn, with more considered “damaged”.
There is almost 64,000 hectares of forestry across Galway, of which 25,000 are privately owned, according to 2023 figures. Areas of privately-owned forestry is understood to have been particularly badly affected in parts of east County Galway.
“It is clear that the first task for forest owners affected by windblow is the safe clearance of sites. The majority of owners can use their existing clearfell and thinning licences to do this work,” said Healy-Rae, in a statement. “For those who do not have a licence, it’s advisable that you apply for it now and mark it as ‘storm-damage’. All such applications received will be prioritised and issued as quickly as possible.”
Forestry experts at Ibec, the employers body, estimated Storm Éowyn levelled 10 million cubic metres of commercial timber across the country, worth between €400m and €500m. This is equivalent to two year’s national timber harvest in one day.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said more precise storm damage figures for County Galway will be published soon.
“The recently completed satellite imagery-based assessment of wind-damaged forest areas following storms Darragh and Éowyn has provided an indicative global figure for storm-damaged sites. Details at county level are not yet finalised,” he said.
