Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 July 2022
345. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the processing and issuing of licence and scheme approvals for the month of June 2022 is in line with his Department's phased plan for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36909/22]
View answer346. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the actual applications versus the phased projected monthly plan for licence and scheme applications in his Department's plan and for the year to date in 2022 and in June 2022 for Coillte felling, private felling, roads, afforestation and ash dieback RUS, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36918/22]
View answer348. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the actual output versus the phased projected monthly plan for licence and scheme approvals in his Department's plan for the year to date in 2022 and in June 2022 for Coillte felling, private felling, roads, afforestation and ash dieback RUS in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36920/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 345, 346 and 348 together.
My Department issued 4,050 forestry licences last year, which was an increase of 56% on the number issued in 2020. It is my priority this year to increase the number of licences issued to 5,250.
Up to 30th June, we have issued 2,449 licences, just behind the projected average of 2,625. It is, however, inevitable, in the context of the annual target figures, there will be fluctuations in licence output and across categories from week to week. We have devoted extra resources to licensing and I remain confident that by year end we will achieve our projected targets. In June we achieved our overall target for the month.
As regards RUS while we committed in our Licensing Plan to increasing output this year, the Plan does not include an annual target as many RUS applications are screened in for Appropriate Assessment and are referred to ecology. Of these, any that propose replacing the ash crop with conifer species currently require planning permission.
We have had successful engagement with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in relation to this requirement for planning permission. From those discussions we expect that legislation to remove the requirement for planning permission in all cases under 10 hectares will be introduced after the Summer recess.
I attach a table outlining output vs target in each of the licensing categories.
In the interest of full transparency details of all licences issued by category are available on the weekly dashboard. This is published on the Departmental website and is made available to all interested parties as well as being submitted to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine each week.
