Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 May 2022
415. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the projected number of afforestation applications that his Department expect to approve for the month of June 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27112/22]
View answerDuring 2021, the Department issued 4,050 forestry licences, which is an increase of 56% on the number issued in 2020, and met our revised target of 4,000 licences. It is our intention to build on this momentum in 2022.
The Forestry Licensing Plan was published in January 2022 and it sets out a range of forestry priorities for 2022. A higher priority is being given to afforestation licences for 2022 with a 107% increase in output up to 1,040. This equates to an average of 20 per week. It is inevitable, in the context of the annual target figures, that there will be fluctuations in licence output and across categories from week to week.
My Department has recently recruited a number of external ecologists who are focusing exclusively on afforestation with a view to increasing output further to meet the target for afforestation licences as set out in the Licensing Plan. These improved outputs are expected to come through in the coming weeks.
I remain fully committed to delivering a licensing system which will meets the needs of the sector and of society and to delivering on our targets for 2022. My Department will continue to issue progress updates weekly through our forestry dashboard available here gov.ie - 2022 Forestry Weekly Dashboard (www.gov.ie).
