Green Belt is Ireland’s largest private forestry group. We were established under the pairing of Mossie Ryan and Tim O’Brien in 1981 and have grown into a strong, independent management company. To date Green Belt have planted, established and now manage in excess of 250,000 acres of private forestry across Ireland for private land owners, farmers, investors and pension funds.

From the early stages of the company’s development, Green Belt have been instrumental in encouraging the adoption of afforestation into the nations thinking. With constant lobbying and continual efforts to raise the profile of forestry in Ireland, Green Belt has demonstrated the real, physical and intrinsic benefits to the individual, to the state and to the environment of improving our countries forest cover.

Since 1981 Green Belt has planted a significant proportion of the forestry that has increased from 2% to 9% today.

Today there is a team of nearly 30 people working full time within Green Belt. From it headquarters in Virginia, County Cavan where the financial and administrative arms of the company reside, to the 16 professional foresters and managers who are active on a daily basis across the entire country. Green Belt focuses on the planting and establishment of forestry across the country and plant approximately 8,000 new acres per annum. Along with this, we carry out a full management service on all those forests as well as those not planted by Green Belt. When plantations are ready, we manage the thinning of those plantations, including the construction of forest roadways, the harvesting of the timber and the successful sale of that timber into the market. We are experts at managing a plantation through to clearfell stage and generating the maximum return from a forestry investment. With such success behind us, we have diversified into other markets.

Internationally Green Belt have established a strong presence. In Panama, we have planted 1,800 acres of teak as an investment vehicle, raising over €6 million in the process. The success of this project has surprised even us and we are always looking at new areas and markets to develop into.

Across the UK and Europe, we have further expanded our offerings to our clients, investing in forests and timber related industries throughout the continent. Throughout the boom years, we maintained and grew forestry portfolios for our clients. These portfolio’s have, to the very minimum, maintained their value, and in the majority of cases performed exceptionally well, delivering strong, consistent returns.

Green Belt is committed to forestry and, in particular, Irish forestry as well as to our very loyal client base. We are constantly striving to make the market more secure and thus more attractive to new and existing investors. With almost 500 years of combined experience within Green Belt, we are the market leaders and our reputation as the best forestry company in Ireland is well founded.