Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 May 2021
541. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will refer the forest service to the Public Accounts Committee in order to assess whether it is value for money for the Irish taxpayer, given the current state of the forestry sector when it comes to timber supplies and the backlog of licence applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27553/21]
View answerThe Forestry Service is part of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which is amenable to the Public Accounts Committee.
The Irish forestry sector is a significant employer in rural Ireland of almost 12,000 jobs. Improving the licensing situation is a key priority for me, Minister of State Pippa Hackett who has responsibility for forestry and the Department and no effort is being spared to achieve this. We need to maintain an intense focus on achieving this. Some early progress is being made with licences up 15% year on year and I fully expect this figure to increase as the year goes on.
Delays in forestry licensing arose because of a very significant change in procedures in relation to Appropriate Assessment as a result of European Court of Justice judgements and subsequent interpretation by the Irish courts and the Forestry Appeals Committee.
All efforts have been made to address this situation with additional inspectorate, ecology and administrative resources recruited, along with training and guidance for both Departmental staff and registered foresters. The complexity of introducing a completely new assessment procedure inevitably took time to take effect and this has affected output. Having said that, there have been recent gains in productivity, with the 1,236 licences issued to date this year representing a 15% increase on the same period last year. As regards felling, a volume of just over 2.2 million cubic metres has issued this year, which is a 32% increase on the same period last year and represents 54% of the COFORD Roundwood Forecast which predicts a potential harvest of 4.1 million cubic metres in 2021.
While we moving in the right direction, we are more than aware of the impact of the backlog on the sector and, in order to improve the functioning and delivery of the licensing process, Minister Hackett, launched Project Woodland in February. This puts in place a framework consisting of a Project Board and four Working Groups, chaired by independent chairs and with outside stakeholders as members, which aims at resolving the backlog and introducing more efficient and effective processes. The process improvement exercise will examine, among other things, whether resources may be deployed more effectively and an organisational review of forestry teams within the Department will consider the structure, roles and responsibilities of these teams relative to outputs sought.
Along with Minister of State Hackett, I remain hopeful that the framework now in place under Project Woodland will address our current difficulties and will result in a licensing system which meets the needs of forest owners and new applicants and the forestry sector as a whole.
