Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
3413. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the next steps his Department is taking with respect of the regulatory review of the forestry licensing system in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40461/21]
View answerWhen Minister of State, Senator Pippa Hackett who has overall responsibility for the sector, and I launched Project Woodland in February of this year, I had two objectives. One to address and review the forestry licensing system and the second was to agree a shared national view to long-term approach to forestry and woodland creation in Ireland.
The review of the licensing process is a top priority and the regulatory review is of key importance. This is a high-level review of the regulatory and planning process for forestry licensing in Ireland. My Department is in the process of securing the services of an independent person or persons with appropriate legal and environmental expertise to carry it out. A tender process on this has commenced.
The review will 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.
Complementary to this review is the end-to-end process review of forestry licensing procedures and the IT system which is being conducted by an independent business analyst. There is a plan in place to finalise this work by September, at which stage it will then be examined by Working Group 4 and recommendations will be brought to the Project Board for consideration.
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.
