Minister Healy-Rae welcomes appointment of the new Irish National Group Forest Certification Board
- Published on: 16 December 2025
- Last updated on: 10 March 2026
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for Forestry, Farm Safety and Horticulture, Michael Healy-Rae, today attended the National Forest Certification Board which he has just appointed. The purpose of the industry-led board is to put in place measures to scale up the area of forests that are certified nationally.
Minister Healy-Rae stated:
“I am delighted to attend the first meeting of this industry-led board, which is tasked with putting in place structures to significantly scale up private forest certification. I want to assure you that I am committed to supporting their work and that certification must be available to all forest owners.
“The voluntary certification of privately owned forests to standards like the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is becoming increasingly important. Without forest certification, access to various national and international markets for Irish-grown timber products is limited. Currently only 8% of private forests are certified and this needs to change if forest owners are to maintain market access. Coillte forests are dual certified to both standards and have provided the majority of certified timber in the past. However, this mix is changing, and the private harvest is now set to exceed the Coillte harvest this decade.”
At the first meeting of the board, the process to appoint a chairperson was discussed and updates provided on the scale of the challenge. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine provided a demonstration to the board of the new electronic management plan system that it has recently developed with feedback from a range of forestry stakeholders. The system, called iPlan, will allow forest owners to complete management plans to a standard format that will support forest certification and the sustainable management of their forests. The department is providing funding of €1,200 per plan to all eligible forest owners under funding allocated in the Forestry Programme 2023-2027.
Minister Healy-Rae continued:
“The supports that my department will provide in the preparation of management plans and attendance at knowledge transfer groups will be key to assisting forest owners in joining a national group certification scheme. There are a number of models to achieve certification, and I expect the board to consider these and assess the best way forward. I would encourage all forest owners and foresters to engage with certification and to support the work of the board.”
Notes
Board of Group Forest Certification Ireland
Minister of State Healy-Rae has appointed members from industry stakeholders to join the Board of Group Forest Certification Ireland. Board members include representatives from industry, private forest owners, and government bodies.
The board membership is:
- Chairperson – to be appointed
- Irish Forest Owners (IFO): Kathleen Lucey
- Forest Industries Ireland (FII): Mark McAuley
- Social Environment Economic Forestry Association (SEEFA): Paddy Bruton
- Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA): Donal Whelan
- Irish Timber Council (ITC): Niall Grainger and John Ryan
- Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA): Amy Mulchrone
- Teagasc: Frances McHugh
- Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Fergus Moore, Senior Inspector
- Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Ireland: William Merivale
Forest Certification
The voluntary certification of privately owned forests to standards like the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is becoming increasingly important. It is forecast that the quantity of timber harvested from privately owned forests will surpass that harvested from state owned forests (Coillte) this decade. The vast majority of private forests in Ireland are not certified to any standard such as the FSC or the PEFC. Sawmills are required, under current Forest Certification rules to have at least 70% of certified timber in the mix of raw material they procure. Unless the certification of private forests is achieved, the required 70% of logs derived from certified sources by mills will be unattainable. This will restrict market access for homegrown private timber into the future. Internationally, group certification where hundreds of forest owners join the one scheme is the preferred model for certification. The focus on the new board will be to establish a national group scheme and to encourage as many forest owners as possible to join.