Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 October 2023
501. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to detail the stakeholders consulted in the development of the new Forestry Programme 2023-2027; the number of meetings with each; and the topic of said meetings. [42696/23]
View answerLast year, my Department published for the first time a Shared National Vision for Trees, Woods and Forests in Ireland until 2050 which was informed by a series of extensive engagement and consultation. This Vision then informed a new Forestry Strategy for Ireland, which was developed via Working Group 2 of Project Woodland. In conjunction, a Forest Strategy Implementation Plan was also developed to facilitate the initial steps in the implementation of the Forest Strategy. This Plan includes the Forestry Programme for the period 2023-2027, which will be the main implementation vehicle for the Forest Strategy in the immediate to short term.
A summary of the methodology used, the results of the consultations, and the influence of the consultation and engagement on the National Shared Vision is available on my Department’s website. For clarity this includes further details on;
– A Public Attitudes Survey (Behaviour and Attitudes, 2022). This study featured a questionnaire based on face-to-face interviews with 1,000 adults.
– Online Public Consultation Survey (M-CO, 2022). An online questionnaire was held for six weeks and received more than 3,000 responses.
– Deliberative Dialogue (M-CO, 2022). This two-day, online citizens’ assembly style event involved a representative sample of 99 people debating and deliberating the future of forestry in Ireland.
– Assessment of the Attitudes of Communities and Interested Parties (Irish Rural Link, 2022). This study focused on the impact forests have on local communities. It featured an online questionnaire, a series of focus groups, and a comparative study on forest practices in Ireland, Finland and Scotland.
– Youth Forum (Foróige, 2022). A youth dialogue was held in January 2022 to assess the attitudes of young people to trees and forests.
– Bilateral Meetings with Stakeholders. My Department held individual meetings with 27 key stakeholders between November 2021 and June 2022. Details of the key findings from these meetings are available in the Summary Report. In addition, all members of the Forestry Policy Group (FPG) were invited to attend a stakeholder consultation workshop on the Forestry Programme Interventions in July 2022. Over 30 participants attended this workshop at which the draft Interventions were presented. My Department led breakout sessions where all attendees had the opportunity to discuss each Intervention in detail. Valuable feedback was received on each Intervention.
The draft Forest Strategy and draft Forest Strategy Implementation Plan (including the Forestry programme 2023-2027) were also published with the associated SEA Environmental Report and AA Natura Impact Report on 18 October 2022 for a six-week period of public consultation. The consultation was open to all interested parties including, but not limited to, an individual, company or association. My Department received approximately 129 submissions on the draft Forest Strategy and received more than 150 submissions on the draft Forest Strategy Implementation Plan. These submissions reflect a range of views are representative of a cross section of Irish society have been taken into account in the Forest Strategy and Forest Strategy Implementation Plan (including the Forestry Programme 2023-2027) which was published on 7 September 2023.
I am content that the FPG is fully representative of all relevant stakeholders from across the forestry sector and that members of all relevant stakeholder groups have contributed equally to the development of the Forestry Programme 2023-2027.
My Colleague, Minister of State Hackett also intends to form a Forestry Programme Consultative Committee (FPCC) within the coming weeks. The FPCC members will be selected from a broad range of relevant stakeholders, acknowledging that it is essential that on-going stakeholder engagement is continued to ensure a successful outcome for the Forest Strategy implementation Plan and the Forestry Programme 2023-2027.
