787. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine whether an assessment has been undertaken of the damage to Coillte forestry on Slievenamon following the July and August 2026 wildfires; the extent of the damage identified; what restoration and wildfire prevention measures are proposed; and whether targeted agri-environmental supports can be made available to upland farmers outside ACRES Co-operation Project areas. [73653/26]

Coillte was established as a commercial state company with private limited status under the Forestry Act, 1988, to become custodian and manager of the national forest estate. The company is currently managing 440,000 hectares of land (7% of the total land area of  Ireland), and its day-to-day operations, such as the management of its forest estate, are a matter for the company.  I have directed those parts of the question related to Coillte to them for direct reply to the Deputy.

In relation to targeted agri-environmental supports the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (‘ACRES’) is Ireland’s national agri-environment climate measure provided under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, with some 53,000 farmers currently participating in it.  While the Scheme is currently closed, upland farmers outside the ACRES Co-operation zones were eligible to apply for the General approach within ACRES, with this approach offering a range of General Actions including commonage. The availability of this action in ACRES was to incentivise farmers to help ensure that habitats on commonage lands are maintained/restored to good condition through appropriate management practices.   Commonage generally tends to be less productive farmland but is highly beneficial from an environmental point of view as it can contain a mosaic of peatland, heath and upland grass.