Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 November 2020
359. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if forestry roadworks approved under the local authority planning process prior to 7 February 2020 and circular 3/2020 are now required to have approval under the single consent process thereby adding another layer of bureaucracy and further costs to applicants; and If he will review a contract number (details supplied) and clarify the issues raised. [37602/20]
View answerMy Department worked closely with the Department of Housing to bring an amendment to the Planning and Development Acts to facilitate a more efficient application process for forest roads. Section 8 of the Act was commenced in February and in tandem with this the Forestry (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 2020 (SI No. 39 of 2020) were signed.
The legislation means that from the 7th February, 2020 all applications for forest roads including an entrance (or widening an existing entrance) onto a public road (other than a national road) must be processed under a single consent system operated by my Department.
We are currently reviewing this case and its particular circumstances and will be in direct contact with the applicant.
