Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
59. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his projections for the number of tree felling licences, afforestation licences, forest road licences, ash dieback RUS applications, woodland improvement applications, native woodland conservation applications, aerial fertilisation licences and continuous cover forestry approvals for the private forest sector in 2022. [60840/21]
View answerTackling the backlog in forestry licenses remains a key priority for my Department, significant progress has been made in the past year, particularly on felling and road licences.
The investment in resources and continual improvement has had a positive impact, with an increase in licence output in recent months and with 3,718 licences issued to date this year. I am confident that we will meet our target of 4,000 licences by year end. For the last 14 weeks, we have issued an average of 115 licences each week and I expect this progress to continue. The volume of timber licensed this year will be the highest ever on record for a single year.
I am also fully committed to delivering on the forestry support schemes, which promote sustainable forest management and support forest owners whose plantations have been affected by Ash Dieback
It is difficult to predict the number of applications we will receive in terms of licences for felling, afforestation, roads and aerial fertilisation in 2022 or in terms of applications for support schemes as these are all voluntary schemes. It is the case that we have a backlog of licences to work through and we are dealing with this through the Project Woodland initiative.
We are making progress under Project Woodland with the second interim report published at the end of October. In terms of licensing, an important initiative is the in-depth review of the forestry licensing system being carried out by a consultant with legal and environmental expertise. It will review the existing statutory framework for the licensing of forestry activities in relation to environmental and public participation obligations in order that practical advice can be provided to the Department on how to work more efficiently within the existing legal framework. That report is expected at end February next. In addition, a business systems analysis currently being undertaken by an independent systems analyst will interact with and run parallel to the regulatory review, so that best possible system improvements are delivered. Furthermore, I am glad to say that the roll-out of a pilot pre-application discussions facility, as well as a payment process for ecology reports submitted with afforestation applications, are under development.
It is our intention to improve on the 2021 target next year and my Department will be producing an updated projection for the issuing of licences in 2022 by year end. Furthermore, it is our intention to deal with support scheme applications in a timely manner in 2022.
I am fully committed to delivering a licensing and forestry support system which meets the expectations of those in the forestry sector and of society as a whole.
