Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 January 2021
910. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if all licences issued by his Department are being treated with equal importance; if his Department is prioritising a section; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4241/21]
View answerMy Department receives applications for afforestation, tree felling and forest road works licences daily. Every application received is treated on its own merits and considered on its own and in combination with other plans and projects near to the application site. The proposed operations are carefully assessed for their potential impact on the surrounding countryside and environment. All applications for forestry licences across the various categories are equally important although by far the greatest number of licences received are for felling.
By way of illustration, in 2020 over 3,200 new licence applications were received. These are broken down into approx. 25% for afforestation, 20% for forest roads and 55% for tree felling. Over 2,500 application decisions were issued last year with approx. 20% for afforestation, 13% forest roads and 66% tree felling.
The Deputy will be aware of a backlog of almost 2,000 forestry licences that have been referred to ecology. Files that are not referred to ecology are dealt with as they arise. For those files that are referred to ecology, a project plan is in place. Part of this plan is to give priority to those applicants who provide a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) to support their application. An applicant may, at their own expense, submit an NIS prepared by a suitably qualified person and this can reduce the waiting time for a decision to two to three months.
I am committed to increasing the level of output of all licences and would point out that in order to do so we have invested heavily in resources including the recruitment of additional ecologists, forestry inspectorate and administrative staff, with extra resources to be added in 2021. This has already resulted in an increase in the number of licences issued, and the last quarter of 2020 saw the highest number of licences issued last year.
The aim is to sustain and build substantially on that output and ensure the consistent high level of output and volume which the sector needs..
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my commitment to supporting the forest sector and to building on the recent progress, so that a continual improvement in delivery is achieved.
