Matt Carthy
Question:18. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the planned timeline to complete and publish an external review of the forestry licensing process. [38155/21]
View answerThursday, 15 July 2021
Questions (18)
Written answers
When Minister of State Hackett and I launched Project Woodland in February of this year, I had two objectives. One to address and review the forestry licensing system and secondly to develop a shared national consensus on forestry and woodland creation long-term in Ireland.
I am pleased to say that the Working Groups who are addressing these key issues are now well established and working very well. The Project Board which oversees their work is very actively engaged also, having had eight meetings already. They will shortly publish an interim report on their work to date regarding the recommendations that have been made to them from Project Woodland.
The review of the licensing process is a top priority and I see it as having two elements. The first involves the process from forestry application to forestry licence, taking account of the Department's operating procedures and IT processes along the way. An independent business systems analyst is currently conducting this review, and has a plan in place to finalise it by end August, at which stage it will be brought to the Project Board for consideration.
The second element of the review is a more high-level review of the regulatory and planning process for forestry licensing in Ireland. I am anxious that this gets underway as soon as possible. The Project Board will advise me on how best to secure the independent person or persons with appropriate legal and environmental expertise to carry it out. It is intended that it include an examination of experiences in other Member States in licensing forestry activities and how they comply with EU legislation and from this what lessons we can bring to our licensing systems. Given the importance of this analysis, we will have to accord enough time for this review to be comprehensive in nature.
These two comprehensive reviews of the end-to-end licensing process and the regulatory framework will, I believe, lead to lasting improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the system and will help us better meet the needs of landowners, forest owners, timber producers and all involved in forestry in Ireland.