Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 May 2021
530. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Forest Service has written to every licence applicant whose application has exceeded the number of days without approval explaining the cause for delay in accordance with the charter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27542/21]
View answerUnder Section 18(1) of the Forestry Act 2014, it shall be the objective that a felling licence application is determined within four months. The Act further provides for notifications to applicants where it appears that a decision cannot be made within four months. Such notification to give reasons for the delay and in addition to set a new date, except in cases where an environmental impact assessment or other type of assessment or significant further information is required, for the issue of the licence.
Prior to the introduction of far-reaching changes to the Appropriate Assessment system, such notifications were issued. However, the changes to procedure meant long delays and resulted in a large number of felling licence applications exceeding the four month period. The majority of cases were held up in ecology and therefore the practice of writing to applicants in each case was suspended.
Registered foresters and industry stakeholders were made aware of the backlog and the reasons for it. Individual queries from applicants continue to be dealt with by means of a dedicated contact line for such queries.
I appreciate that good communication with applicants is very important and that the current situation is far from ideal. The question of customer communication is being examined by Working Group 3 under Project Woodland, and a new Customer Charter for forestry is under development. Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has responsibility for forestry, I am committed to the implementation of Project Woodland and to the improvement of customer relations and to better meeting customer expectations.
