Green Belt is proud of its heritage and history. Our mission is to provide professional forestry services, efficiently and effectively, with integrity and quality.
Our passionate, values-driven team is dedicated to growing our business while ensuring the complete satisfaction of our clients at all times.
To safeguard continuity and sustainability, our forests are economically viable, sustainably managed and planted in a socially responsible manner.
We believe that our honest and ethical approach to forestry will lead to an enhanced quality of life for our people and the communities they call home.
Timeline:
1982 - Mossie Ryan Tim O'Brien sit together and create Green Belt
1985 - The current HQ in Virginia is bought - they move out of the garage!
1986 - Disaster - our 2 clients leave the market on the same day
1986 - Success - support from Government led to investment from the US
1989 - The first afforestation grant in introduced as the Western Package
1992 - Premiums are paid for the first time for those planting
1995 - A bumper year for planting - Green Belt establishes 7,000 hectares of a 16k Ha national program
2000 - Issues in getting financial support from the government for forestry
2001 - Foot and Mouth hits Ireland
2002 - Ireland almost win the world cup (kind of)
2005 - Planting numbers are just over 10,000 hectares
2010 - Planting area starts to fall off
2012 - Green Belt grows its team of foresters
2014 - A revised forestry program is introduced with more focus on environmental impacts
2016 - Green Belt has assisted in the placing of more than €200 million into private forestry
2019 - All change with our first female CEO placed in charge - well done Imelda Connolly
2020 - COVID - Green Belt were deemed essential services so continued with our expert management
2023 - A new forestry program launched
2025 - Strom Eowyn devastates more than 10,000 hectares of forestry across Ireland
2025 - Minister Hayden appoints Michael Healy Rae to look after forestry