The economic impact of forestry in the Ballyvourney area of County Cork, Ireland

Little is known about the impact of forestry on local development in Ireland. This paper describes one of the first attempts to evaluate the economic activity and employment generated by forestry and to relate it to local development. The study determined the economic activity generated from plantation management and timber production from four forests owned by Coillte Teoranta (the State Forestry Board which is a commercial state-owned company established in 1988 to manage public forests) located in south-west Ireland. The technique used was input–output analysis with the data on the direct economic activities being sourced from Coillteʹs management information system and from surveys. The indirect economic activities were estimated using an existing input–output model of the region. The data on the direct employment generated were derived from the data collected on the economic activity with additional data being obtained from surveys. To link these data to the concept of local development, the location of the economic activity and employment was related to the centre of the study area. In this way it was possible to determine what areas and communities benefited from the operation of forestry within the study area and consequently to show the benefits that the community local to the forest were gaining from those forests.