Minister Michael Healy-Rae launches iPLAN online tool to enable easier access to forest certification
- Foilsithe: 28 Samhain 2025
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 28 Samhain 2025
Minister of State for Forestry, Farm Safety and Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Healy-Rae TD, has today launched the new iPLAN Scheme (online Forest Management Planning tool). The scheme offers financial support to private forest owners to prepare Forest Management Plans to enable easier access to forest certification. The digital platform is designed to empower forest owners and their foresters to efficiently create and manage detailed Forest Management Plans.
Launching the scheme, Minister Healy-Rae said:
“I am delighted to be offering this new iPLAN scheme, which I believe is a significant step towards modernising the forestry sector. It is an accessible, user-friendly tool to manage and ensure the long-term sustainable health and economic viability of Ireland’s forests.”
The iPLAN scheme will promote more active forest management, resulting in forests that have greater capacity to deliver eco-system services, climate resilience, roundwood value and forest health vitality than those that are not subject to forest management planning practices. iPLAN will also encourage the greater mobilisation of timber by promoting greater planning of forest road works and harvesting activities, such as on-time thinning and harvest management.
The Minister added:
“iPLAN is part of a wider plan to enable and facilitate private forest owners to access forest certification. In this regard I am appointing a board to oversee the establishment of a Group Forest Certification Scheme and to set out a pathway to achieve group certification for the majority of forest owners that are still not certified.”
Concluding, Minister Healy-Rae said:
“I strongly believe that it is important for our forest owners to achieve certification of their forests to make them more viable in the long-term, and my Department is offering financial support of €1,200 to forest owners engaging with iPLAN.”
iPLAN will be available from Thursday, 27 November for submission of Forest Management Plans by registered foresters.
Notes to Editor
Forest Certification in Ireland arose from a global initiative to promote Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and reduce deforestation. It acts as a verification system, audited by independent third parties to ensure forests are managed to high environmental, social and economic standards. Forest certification is vital for the Irish forest sector to demonstrate to customers that their products are produced from sustainable sources when placed on the domestic and international markets.
Recent figures published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine indicate that there is currently 33,947ha of private forests certified or about 8% of the private area.
Further details on the iPLAN Scheme are available on gov.ie: iPLAN Scheme