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Forestry Sector

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 February 2022

Thursday, 10 February 2022

Questions (157)

Seán Canney

Question:

157. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to introduce a new licensing regime for single forestry applications to include planting, thinning and felling of forests to give certainty to farmers and persons involved in the forestry business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5971/22]

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Written answers

The MacKinnon report, commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to review the processes and procedures for forestry licenses in Ireland, recommended that there would be a review of the legislation on forestry and that this review should also examine the feasibility of a single consent covering planting, road construction, management and felling.

The Department, in response to this recommendation and working with the stakeholders under Project Woodland has engaged external consultants to conduct such a study and full examination of our regulatory system. Philip Lee Consultants were the selected company after a procurement competition had concluded and are currently carrying out an in-depth review of the forestry licensing system.

They are reviewing 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. The question of a single consent process for all forestry activities is among the areas to be examined in this work. It is expected that this work will be completed by end-February.

In addition, a business systems analysis currently being undertaken by an independent systems analyst will interact with and run parallel with the regulatory review, so that best possible system improvements are delivered.

Alongside Project Woodland, we continue to make process changes to improve licensing output. There have been significant recent improvements in licensing figures and my Department issued 4,050 new forestry licences in 2021, which was 56% higher than 2020.

We expect to receive the final report from Philip Lee by end-February and will be engaging immediately with the stakeholders to examine its conclusions.

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