Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 January 2022
678. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the relevant stakeholders will be consulted on the forestry report being compiled by a person (details supplied) in order to ensure that the report is as comprehensive as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2907/22]
View answerFollowing a procurement process involving a Request for Tenders (RFT) Philip Lee has been hired by the Department to provide planning, environmental and legal expertise to review the regulatory framework for licensing of forestry activities within which DAFM operates and advise the Board of Project Woodland on potential new efficiencies arising within the regulatory and statutory framework for the forestry industry.
As the successful tenderer, Philip Lee is required to
a) review and critically analyse the existing statutory framework for the licensing of forestry activities
b) recommend practical and implementable options for streamlining processes and procedures
c) consider arrangements (legal, procedural and operational) in a selected agreed sample of EU Member States with comparable clear felling and afforestation deliverables and include within the options at (b) recommendations from the lessons learned from those other jurisdictions and what practices and procedures can be implemented by DAFM,
d) include provision for: i. differentiating projects based on scale, location, type, ownership type, etc and
ii. single consent/permit/licence or authorisation to cover all activities required to be licensed and
e) evaluate and provide recommendations in relation to current standard 15km radius for AA and, if necessary, recommend other practical approaches to screening based on EU law requirements.
As part of this process Philip Lee is consulting widely. This includes regular updates to the Project Woodland Project Board, all Working Groups associated with Project Woodland and bilateral meetings, on request, with key stakeholders. A number of these meetings have taken place to date and will continue throughout the process.
