Environmental Indicators Ireland 2020

Grassland accounted for 58.4% of total land use in Ireland in 2018, down from 61.0% in 1990. The area under forest increased from 6.8% in 1990 to 10.9% in 2018. Land under settlement was 1.8% in 2018.

Forestry accounted for 11% of Ireland’s total land area in 2016, the second lowest among EU Member States after Malta. Finland had the highest proportion of land area under forest at 73.1% in 2016.

The area of agricultural land farmed organically in Ireland increased by 257% between 1997 and 2018, when it accounted for 66,700 hectares or 1.4% of the total agricultural land.

Land used for organic farming in Ireland accounted for 1.4% of total agricultural land in 2018 – the third lowest percentage among EU Member States. Estonia, with 17.9%, had the highest proportion of agricultural land farmed organically in the EU28 in 2018, and Malta the lowest at 0.3%.

Total fertiliser sales in Ireland fell from 1.8 million tonnes in 1981 to 994,000 tonnes in 2008. In 2018 it was 1.6 million tonnes.

Lime is the most commonly used fertiliser in the State. Sales fell from 1.3 million tonnes in 1981 to 1.0 million tonnes in 2018.

The sale of nitrogen fertilisers in Ireland increased from 275,000 tonnes in 1981 to 398,000 tonnes in 2018.

Potassium fertiliser sales fell from 150,000 tonnes in 1981 to 119,000 tonnes in 2018.

Phosphorous fertiliser sales fell from 63,000 tonnes in 1981 to 45,000 tonnes in 2018.

Ireland had the eight highest level of fertiliser sales among EU Member States in 2017 at 108 tonnes per 1,000 hectares of agricultural land. The Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union had the highest level of sales at 176 and Portugal had the lowest at 30 tonnes per 1,000 hectares of agricultural land.

Cattle numbers in Ireland during 1980 to 2019 fluctuated between 6.5 million in 1988 and 7.6 million in 1998. The 2019 figure was 7.2 million, slightly down on the 2018 figure of 7.3 million.

Sheep numbers have fluctuated more widely. In 1980 there were 3.3 million sheep in Ireland. This number peaked in 1992 at 8.9 million. In 2019 there were 5.1 million sheep in the State, up by 0.7% from 2018.

Pig numbers increased from 1.0 million in 1980 to a peak of 1.8 million in 1998. In 2019 there were 1.6 million pigs in the State, down slightly on 2018.

In December 2019 Ireland had the joint fourth highest number of cattle in the EU, with 7.6% of the total. France had the highest proportion of cattle numbers, with 21.0% of the EU total.

Ireland had 1.1% of the total pig population in the EU in December 2019. Spain had the highest proportion of pig numbers in the EU with 21.1% of the total.

The number of new dwelling completions in Ireland declined by 34.6% from 6,994 units in 2011 to 4,575 units in 2013. By 2019 the figure had increased to 21,138. In 2019, 59% of these units were part of housing schemes, 24% were single houses and 17% were apartments.