The Scots Pine is not native to Ireland. They were introduced, along with the larch, by the British landgrabbers for their estates.

The tops of the Wicklow Mountains, for example, were extremely fertile pre-bog growth and much of the area's population probably lived up there, especially during the summer months. In one of the Annals it states that the Dublin plane was the only lowland area that was unwooded when the first people arrived in Ireland. Obviously a bit of an exageration, but it does show that folk memory knew that much fo Ireland was once covered in trees.