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Forestry Sector

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022

Wednesday, 19 January 2022

Questions (2005)

Martin Browne

Question:

2005. Deputy Martin Browne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of felling licence applications issued broken down for Coillte and private (details supplied) from May to December 2019 and for the entirety of 2020 and 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2099/22]

View answer

Written answers

My Department has invested heavily in additional resources and in process improvements, alongside Project Woodland, to increase licence output.  This has had the desired effect with a marked increase in licences issued last year.  In fact, we reached our target for 2021, issuing 4,050 forestry licences.

Much of that output has been felling licences, which reflects the number of felling licence applications we receive as opposed to forest roads and afforestation licence applications. To the end of last year, we received 3,601 tree felling licence applications, split between 2,299 Coillte and 1,309 private applications (64%/36% respectively).

In 2021, My Department issued 1,345 private felling licences and 1,532 to Coillte. This highlights that overall, there was no great disparity last year between both Coillte and private licences (47%/53% respectively), notwithstanding the greater number of Coillte applications received.  Coillte is responsible of the mature national forest estate and represents 75% of the national supply of logs to sawmills.

From May 2019 to end 2020, there were 1,447 felling licences issued to private applicants and 1,626 felling licences issued to Coillte.  That is 47%/53% respectively, which again indicates that there is not a huge difference in outputs between private and Coillte felling licences.

The number of forestry licences issued each week is indicated in the Forestry Licensing Dashboard, which contains a breakdown of the licences issued for both Coillte and private applicants, and this may be viewed on the Department's website at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/collection/15b56-forest-statistics-and-mapping/ 

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