Leitrim’s forestry nightmare: Where are we a year after Storm Eowyn?

Ireland is once again reckoning with a new reality of winter storms. Much of the country is battling the aftermath of extreme weather, and questions of preparedness are again in the air.

Twelve months on from the devastating effects of Storm Eowyn that left much of Leitrim in the dark, and some without water for weeks due to falling trees, what has changed in the forest situation in the county?

In short, very little.

Despite the swathes of downed trees, Leitrim is still the country's most forested county with around 20.1% of its land covered in trees, according to the 2025 Forest Report.

During the storms, 50 million trees nationwide were blown over by the 164km winds, according to Coillte, the Irish Semi-State forestry agency.

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Since then, the forestry situation has been raised in the Dáil and in private meetings held by Leitrim County Council and members of Save Leitrim with the Junior Minister of State for Forestry, Michael Healy-Rae, to discuss the forestry situation, but without receiving any assurances that planting would slow in the county.

“They have an awful long way to go,” said Justin Warnock, Leitrim County Councillor and member of Save Leitrim.

For years leading up to the storm, there were calls from environmental and community groups in Leitrim for changes to regulations regarding distances from powerlines, roads, and individuals' properties. However, the problem persists with falling trees frequently causing power cuts in the south of the county.

“The biggest problem of all is the setbacks; the setbacks are not enough, they never were enough. Setbacks from the ESB powerlines, telephone lines, roadside verges, and water courses, everything is impacted by the plantation.”

The government has launched a winter resilience plan in response to the growing trend of extreme weather.

The biggest change to the forestry situation in 2025 is that the government plans to bring the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Bill 2025, which would give the ESB greater powers to cut trees back from critical infrastructure, while forest owners will be charged with maintaining the electrical corridors on their land.

As part of the plan, the ESB outlined the worst-affected areas and is in the process of cutting back trees which are intruding onto priority electrical wires that run through corridors in forestry around the country, according to a statement from the ESB.

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Starting with Medium Voltage and 38kV lines have been prioritised for cutting based on interference and access levels, but to cut trees, agreement of the relevant landowners is required, and the ESB is in the process of working out who owns forests and negotiating with them. How much of this has taken place in Leitrim so far is unclear.

“Twelve months on, they have a bit done alright,” said Cllr Warnock. “You can’t fault the ESB; the infrastructure is theirs, but they didn’t cause the problem.”

The problem was caused by planters, and where they put their trees, he claims, stressing that even now, trees are being planted too close to powerlines.

The forests around Leitrim are owned by a combination of private farmers and companies, such as Coillte, with Sitka spruce plantations making up over 60pc of the trees in the county. Nationally, 25% of the forestry corridors are owned by Coillte, according to the ESB.

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Coillte has declined to answer any questions or criticism regarding adherence to regulations around the distance from powerlines or what steps it is taking to ensure that this does not happen again.

Instead, it has provided a formal statement highlighting that the 14,500 hectares of Coillte estate were damaged during storm Eowyn, primarily in the North-West of the country, causing 60 million in financial cost to productive forests, biodiversity forests, recreation forests and trails.

They stress that they are continuing to harvest and replant the windblown forests, estimating that they have approximately 20% of storm-damaged forests clear-felled to date, with the clean-up set to continue into 2027.