FAQs

I would like information about Coillte’s policy on chemical spraying. Can you help?

Coillte are fully committed to responsible forest management and are certified to both the Forest Stewardship Council^®¹ (FSC^®) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Management Schemes (PEFC™) standards of sustainable forest management.

Chemicals are primarily used in forestry in Ireland at the time of forest establishment (tree planting) to protect young trees from insect damage and competing vegetation. Coillte have a programme in place to reduce the amount of chemicals used in our forest management and use only two main chemicals; one to protect young trees from insect damage and the other to control vegetation.

Coillte only use chemicals that are registered and approved for use in forestry in Ireland by the Pesticide Registration and Controls Divisions (PRCD) and the Pesticide Control Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). The PRCD are responsible for implementing the regulatory system for plant protection products and chemicals such as insecticides. In addition the chemicals are also approved for use in forestry in Ireland under derogation from the Forest Stewardship Council.

Please follow this link for more information on Coillte’s use of chemicals in forestry Click here

[1] FSC licence code FSC- C005714