A national forestry inventory has established that there are 2.4 billion trees growing in forests in the Republic and they contain 30 million tonnes of carbon assets.
The study, carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, involved a detailed field survey of Ireland's forests to assess the composition and condition of the entire national forest estate, both public and private.
Wicklow emerged as the county with the highest percentage of forest cover at 18 per cent, while Cork had the largest forest area, with 77,700 hectares. The inventory, which took three years to complete, has established that 10 per cent of the State's total land area is now under forest. It found that 57 per cent of the forests in the State are now in public ownership and 43 per cent is held privately.
Of the private forests, 30 per cent were grant-aided and 13 per cent held in other ways.
The survey also found that almost two-thirds of the national forests are less than 20 years old, indicating the growth in interest in afforestation. The inventory also gave a breakdown of the kinds of trees being grown and established: 25 per cent of the national forests are broadleaf and the rest are conifer tree species.
It established that there were 70 million cubic metres of growing stock in the national forest estate, which equates to an average of 112 cubic metres per hectare.
For the first time, the survey which took three years to complete, provided information relating to biodiversity, health vitality and soil type in the entire forest estate.
This established that over 20 per cent of the afforested area was planted with native tree species and that one-quarter of the forest stands had three or more tree species present.
The foresters who carried out the work estimated that the national deadwood volume stock was 5.7 million cubic metres.
This resource was in the form of stumps, deadlogs and standing dead trees, according to the publication, issued yesterday.
Of major importance was the discovery that there were no significant threats to the health and vitality of the forests.