Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
1562. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of felling licences issued by his Department and by the independent appeals committee, respectively in each week in September and October 2020; the volume of timber involved each week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33920/20]
View answer1563. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of extra staff, including ecologists appointed to both his Department and the Independent Appeals Committee to deal with the backlog of applications for licences and appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33921/20]
View answer1564. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of extra members appointed to the Independent Appeals Committee dealing with forestry licences following recent legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33922/20]
View answer1565. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress made in the past month to ensure that the timber mills will have sufficient raw material of saw log over the coming six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33923/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1562 to 1565, inclusive, together.
I am very aware of the serious issues delays in processing forestry licences and appeals is causing industry stakeholders.
My Department has been working to increase outputs on new licences and has an expected felling licence output this month that will be the highest number of licences and volume since the beginning of the year. 229 tree felling licences issued in October providing a volume of over 761,000m3. A weekly breakdown of licences issued in September and October is below.
There are currently sixteen full-time equivalent ecologists working on licensing files, compared to one at the same time last year, with sanction in place for an additional four permanent ecologists. My Department is currently recruiting 13 Forestry Inspectors, ten of which will be working on licensing files. Seven of the ten are in the final stages of joining the Department and will be deployed over the coming weeks.
The Deputy will be aware that the Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act commenced on Tuesday 6th October. Secondary legislation required to give effect to the main provisions of the Act also came into force from today Wednesday 7th October. The new Act, amending the Agriculture Appeals Act was designed to align forestry licensing appeals process with best practice in other appeals processes. Among other things, it allows for the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) to determine appeals by enabling it to sit in divisions of itself
I have moved quickly to resource the FAC to realise the provisions as set out in the Act and have appointed 3 Deputy Chairs along with 2 ordinary members. There are now hearings scheduled for four different FAC Committees. The individuals appointed have been selected on the recommendation of the current Chair of the FAC and have been selected with regard to their particular expertise on issues such as environmental regulation, silvicultural issues and appeals processes. Agriculture Appeals officers will be deployed to sit on these committees also. Two additional persons with planning expertise have also been contracted to assist members of the FAC.
I should emphasise that the FAC are operationally independent of my Department and they report their own outputs on their website.
Number of felling licences issued in September, 2020
|
1-04/09/2020 |
W/E 11th September |
W/E 18th September |
W/E 25th September |
29-30th September |
||||||||||
|
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
|
25 |
282.32 |
25766.2 |
29 |
431.13 |
91653.5 |
15 |
187.16 |
43746.2 |
16 |
261.58 |
48078 |
1 |
20.53 |
6775 |
Number of felling licences issued in October, 2020
|
1-2/10/2020 |
W/E 09/10/2020 |
W/E 16/10/2020 |
W/E 23/10/2020 |
W/E 30/10/2020 |
||||||||||
|
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
No. |
ha |
Volume |
|
1 |
14.36 |
4738.8 |
8 |
122.84 |
17893.8 |
42 |
427.26 |
187842.8 |
69 |
710.26 |
210855.4 |
109 |
1112 |
339882 |
