Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 October 2021
364. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of the anticipated recruitment of foresters or ecologists for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51889/21]
View answer365. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated total expenditure anticipated to run the Forestry Service for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51890/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 364 and 365 together.
My Department has invested heavily in staff resources over the course of the last two years. There are currently 151 staff comprising a combination of forestry inspectors, ecologists, archaeologists, and administrative personnel.
Within Forestry Inspectorate Division permanent and temporary personnel numbers have moved from 40 (38 Inspectors, two ecologists) in early 2020 to 61 today (52 Inspectors and nine Ecologists). In addition, the number of Contract full time equivalent (FTE) ecologists has steadily grown from none two years ago to 18 today. In total there are now 27 full-time equivalent ecologists working on licensing files, nine within the Inspectorate division and the rest on external contracts.
In the last few days the Department completed a competition for the provision of up to three contract engineers to assist with Forest road licence applications. We are keeping resource requirements under continuous review and will continue to recruit as necessary.
The Department has forestry personnel deployed to buildings all over the country, often shared with other Department personnel or indeed personnel from other Departments.
In terms of budget allocation for Forestry-related schemes for 2022, I am pleased to report that this year’s Budget delivered strong support for Forestry with the allocation of over €100m for 2022. This excludes staffing and associated costs. I will revert to the Deputy with that information.
