Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2023
472. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action his Department is taking to remedy the situation in which a person who has forestry land and the Forestry Service has refused to grant them a forest road licence in circumstances (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21134/23]
View answerIn the case provided, the application for a road licence has not been refused by my Department. However, a Further Information Request (FIR) has been issued by my Department to the applicants, requesting information on alternative access to their forest holding in the interest of water quality. Having considered the proposed new forest access route and the requirement to provide crossing points at two streams within the catchment of a public water supply and sensitive salmon spawning catchment, the applicants were requested to investigate alternative access routes from neighbouring forest lands. The application is being held open to afford the applicant sufficient time to investigate alternative routes, that may have less of an environmental risk associated.
If the applicant wishes to discuss the issues directly with my Department staff with a view to reaching a solution on the ground to safely harvest and remove the timber in an environmentally responsible manner, my staff would be open to such a discussion.
