‘Leitrim is becoming sacrificial land’: Leitrim remains the most forested county, new report finds

Leitrim continues to hold the highest percentage of forestry cover in Ireland, according to the Forestry Statistics Report 2025.

The report reveals that Leitrim has 20.1% forest cover, followed by Wicklow at 18.5%. Roscommon stands at 12.4%, while Longford has 9.5%.

“There’s one thing people don’t realise — that 20% includes the overall county area. When you take out the lakes, like Lough Allen and Lough Melvin, it represents a huge portion of the available agricultural land,” said Cllr Justin Warnock, a member of Save Leitrim, a group advocating for greater restrictions on forestry activity in the county.

Leitrim also had the highest number of appeals against forestry practices in 2024, according to the Forestry Appeals Committee. Of the 115 licence appeals made nationally, 37 came from Leitrim.

“Only for the fact that we’ve been in the trenches for seven or eight years now, Save Leitrim appealing these decisions and fighting the afforestation of our county, the figure would be much higher,” Warnock added.

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Leitrim was among the worst-hit counties when Storm Eówyn caused widespread damage earlier this year, fallen trees damaged electrical infrastructure, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power. Some residents in Leitrim were left without electricity for nearly three weeks.

“Leitrim is becoming sacrificial land,” Warnock continued. “But they’ve learned we’re not going to be the sacrificial lamb. We’re fighting back. We’re not going to roll over and leave no land for future generations.”

Nationally, €73 million was spent on forestry activities in 2024, with 1,573 hectares of new forest planted that year.

The highest level of afforestation occurred in County Cork (166 hectares), followed by County Kerry (128 hectares).

Since 1980, 24,121 private landowners have accessed grants to establish new forests. Farmers have accounted for 82% of afforestation on private land. In 2023, 57% of newly afforested land was planted by farmers, with non-farmers making up 43%.

Between 2006 and 2024, 40% of afforested land was planted by individuals aged 60 or older. In 2024 alone, that number rose to 51%, and among those receiving premium payments, 62% were over 60.

The county with the least forest cover is Louth, at just 2%, while Cork leads in overall forested area, with 92,471 hectares under forestry.

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