A STRATEGIC plan for the forestry sector has received Cabinet approval. The scheme is to be announced by the Minister for Forestry, Mr Yates, in July and will involve £3 billion in State and EU investment up to 2030.

"It is really a long term plan and will include downstream activities," Mr Tom Power, assistant secretary at the Department of Food and Forestry, told The Irish Times.

Negotiations on how much of this will be EU funded and how much will come from the Irish exchequer are ongoing, according to a spokesman for the Department.

The area of land planted is to be doubled during the next 20 years, from 8 per cent to 16 per cent of the total land area of the State.

It is hoped to double the number of jobs in the sector in the next 10 years. The sector already employs 12,000 people.

Mr Yates is to announce the details of the strategic plan on July 1st. The plan is aimed at maximising the economic and social benefits of afforestation.

Mr Paddy Glennon, outgoing chairman of the Irish Forest Industry Chain (IFIC), told the organisation's a.g.m. that the level of afforestation in Ireland was still very low compared to the European average of 34 per cent.

"The current annual turnover for the forest sector in Ireland exceeds £200 million," he said. "It is projected this will increase to around £1 billion by the year 2015."

Incoming chairman, Mr Dermot O'Brien of Coillte, said the strategic plan for forestry should provide a strong basis for the long term development of the sector.

Mr Glennon said the saw milling sector had experienced severe difficulties in 1995. The high cost of logs and lack of competitiveness in the British market, due to the high value of the pound against sterling, meant that saw millers received very poor returns.

The proposed agreement between Coillte, and the Irish Timber Council, representing the saw millers, "is a major breakthrough", he said.

"It should ensure that a new sales system for the purchasing of logs will come into effect, which will provide saw milling companies with greater certainty with regard to supply and cost effectiveness," he said.

IFIC has called on the Government to rectify as a matter of urgency" the problem that the level of grants and premiums available for tree plantations are not competitive with those available from the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme.