Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 March 2023
358. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number and area of afforestation licences lodged with his Department that remain to be approved, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15988/23]
View answerIn 2022 we saw a significant increase in the issuing of afforestation licences, with my Department issuing 702 afforestation licences for an area of 4,972 hectares. Valid unused Afforestation licences are being extended until the end of 2023 to give landowners every opportunity to plant and they will attract increased premium rates and a longer term of 20 years for farmers.
In relation to the new forestry programme my Department is actively engaging with the Commission with a view to securing full State Aid approval as soon as possible.
In terms of afforestation applications which were applied for before 31st December, 2022, but not yet issued, there are 440 applications covering 4145ha, broken down by year in the below table.
|
Year |
Applications |
Hectares |
|
2022 |
275 |
2385 |
|
2021 |
80 |
952 |
|
2020 |
47 |
483 |
|
2019 |
39 |
253 |
|
2018 |
3 |
31 |
They are at various stages of completion within the Assessment process; some where my Department is awaiting further information from the applicant, others where the application is undergoing one of the public consultation stages and finally those being considered by Forestry Division officials for approval.
We are continuing to process these applications so that they can transition into the new Programme as seamlessly as possible when it opens.
