Forestry Sector

Thursday, 24 February 2022

Questions (467)

Matt Shanahan

Question:

467. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the overall private sector forestry applications made in 2021, broken down by afforestation, thinning, roads and felling licences; the waiting list per category as per December 2021, in tabular form; the new targets his Department has set for 2022 in the same category areas; the way performance in 2022 is performing against profile; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10651/22]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The number of forestry licence applications received and issued in 2021 is indicated in the table below.

-	Received	Issued
Afforestation	526	502
Forest Roads	661	671
Tree Felling	1,254	1,346
Total Private	2,441	2,519

While we are addressing the issues with the licensing system, there are still forestry licences on hand and in backlog. At the end of 2021, there were 4,817 forestry licences awaiting decision, broken down below. This number has further reduced and, on 18th February, the total number on hand is 4,379.

-	31st December
Afforestation	884
Forest Roads	585
Tree Felling	3,348
Total	4,817

We are increasing further our licence output in 2022 as outlined in the recently published forestry Licensing Plan, found at gov.ie - Forestry Licensing Plan 2022 (www.gov.ie). The targets for 2022 are shown below and represent year-on-year increase of 30% Licences issued to date are also shown and output is keeping pace with the overall target.

-	Total Annual Target	Licences Issued YTD (18th Feb)
Afforestation	1,040	87
Forest Roads	850	100
Tree Felling	3,360	521
Total	5,250	708