Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2023
1338. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of decisions made by the forestry appeals committee which set back the decision of the Minister based on errors; whether he believes this represents an error in the assessment of forestry licences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39337/23]
View answer1339. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is concerned that 54 of the last 55 decisions of the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) have been to set back the decision of the Minister on the basis of errors in the awarding of the licence; if he believes this represents a systemic flaw in the assessment of forestry licences; the potential impact of any such error on licences which have not been appealed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39338/23]
View answer1340. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he intends to take action to address the errors identified in the forestry licensing decisions of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39339/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos 1338 to 1340, inclusive, together.
I am aware of the significant number of set-aside cases that have come back in the last year from the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC).
The majority of the decisions to set aside and remit licences were not questioning the substantive correctness of the decision made by the Department.
Rather, the FAC highlighted particular procedural errors by the Department, in particular in relation to the EIA determination and the Appropriate Assessment determination. The majority of the decisions to set aside and remit licences were requesting that the Department explicitly state that they have considered other plans and projects in the area of the licence application and consider the combined effect of these projects and the forestry application on European Natura 2000 sites.
My Department takes full cognisance of all decisions of the FAC, and is constantly working to improve its performance in respect of these and other matters. It has closely examined the FAC decisions in question and accepts the significance of the procedural errors made in those cases. It has taken action to address the particular procedural errors identified, including through changes to the Appropriate Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment determination procedures that will ensure better recording of the decision-making process and more robust decisions for the benefit of applicants and the public alike in the future. My Department therefore would expect that future licence decisions will not be successfully appealed on these particular grounds.
Below are statistics on FAC Decisions, by licence type, since the legislation governing the options available to FAC was changed to the options below, which include set aside and remit, in October 2020:
|
Afforestation |
Felling |
Road |
Grand Total |
|
|
Affirm |
65 |
165 |
64 |
294 |
|
Set Aside & Remit |
106 |
132 |
29 |
267 |
|
Vary |
24 |
32 |
6 |
62 |
|
Cancelled ( Set Aside ) |
18 |
5 |
2 |
25 |
|
Grand Total |
213 |
334 |
101 |
648 |
