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Forestry Sector

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 November 2021

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

Questions (665, 666, 667, 668, 669)

Michael Lowry

Question:

665. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1231 to 1239 of 2 November 2021, the number of reminders that have to be sent out and that have been sent out since 2 November 2021 when stating that his Department will shortly send out reminders to those who have not yet provided the information sought in reference to the further information letters sent out in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55687/21]

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Michael Lowry

Question:

666. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos, 1231 to 1239 of 2 November 2021, the number of reminders that are scheduled to be sent out in the week commencing 15 November 2021 when stating that his Department will shortly send out reminders to those who have not yet provided the information sought in reference to the further information letters sent out in June 2021; when all reminders will be actually sent out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55688/21]

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Michael Lowry

Question:

667. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1231 to 1239 of 2 November 2021, the number of such reminders for similar information that have been sent out by licence and scheme type in each week since 1 January 2019 when stating that his Department will shortly send out reminders to those who have not yet provided the information sought in reference to the further information letters sent out in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55689/21]

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Michael Lowry

Question:

668. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1231 to 1239 of 2 November 2021, the number of requests for further information by licence and scheme type sent out weekly since 1 January 2019 by licence and scheme type; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55690/21]

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Michael Lowry

Question:

669. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1231 to 1239 of 2 November 2021, if no reminders have been sent to applicants in circumstances in which the information sought in June 2021 has already been provided to his Department when stating that his Department will shortly send out reminders to those who have not yet provided the information sought in reference to the further information letters sent out in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55691/21]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 665 to 669, inclusive, together.

The Deputy refers to Parliamentary Question number 941 of 19 October, 2021, in which I gave a breakdown of the 420 tree felling licence applications, that were referred to Ecology, where further information by way of a harvest plan or amended harvest plan was required from the applicant. This followed a large triage exercise undertaken by my Department of licences on hand for processing.

This exercise has allowed us to significantly increase our output of forestry licences with over 790 private sector felling licences issued since 1 June. However, approximately half of the requests for further information remain unanswered and cannot be processed until they are submitted. Follow- up reminders for these cases, 234 in total, issued in the week ending 5th November, 2021.

Specific information on the number of Further Information Requests issued by licence type and scheme by week since 2019 is not readily available.

This more recent exercise was for a specific cohort of files, rather than at individual file level, which is why we have immediate statistics to hand. We will examine the other request to establish if such statistics can be compiled.

Question No. 666 answered with Question No. 665.
Question No. 667 answered with Question No. 665.
Question No. 668 answered with Question No. 665.
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