Storm Éowyn leads to record level of wood removed from Irish forests

Storm Éowyn led to an 18 per cent increase in the volume of wood removed from Irish forests last year, driving the rate to its highest level in more than a decade, new data from the Central Statistics Office shows.

The data show the amount of roundwood – which is wood in its natural state – removed from forests across the State went up from 4.4 million cubic metres in 2024 to 5.2 million cubic metres last year.

The total value of of this wood was €238 million in 2025. That was a 1 per cent increase on the €236 million figure in 2024 and 6 per cent down on a high of €253 million in 2022.

Some 2.9 million cubic metres were removed from privately-owned forests, accounting for 57 per cent of the total volume. Coniferous roundwood accounted for over 99 per cent of removals.

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CSO statistician, Niamh Shanahan said the impact of Storm Éowyn early in the year “likely impacted the increase of roundwood removed from Irish forests. Compared with 2024, removals from public forests fell by 6 per cent, while removals from private forests rose by 48 per cent.

It was the first year where removals from private-forests were higher than removals from publicly-owned forests, she said.

State-owned commercial forestry business, Coillte last month reported its total cash impact of Storm Éowyn would be in excess of €80 million, with salvage of windblown sites expected to continue until mid-2027.

Coillte said the effects of the “unprecedented levels of damage” to its estate caused by the storm “continue to impact negatively on the business”.

This estimated total cash cost is driven by a combination of lower pricing due to increased supply of sawlog material and lower volumes of higher-value sawlog material extracted from windblown sites.

The CSO said the highest product share of the wood removed last year was large sawlogs, which are used in construction, at 36 per cent. That was followed by small sawlog at 28 per cent, and pulpwood at 24 per cent.

These three categories together account for approximately 90 per cent of all wood removed from Irish forests each year.