Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 December 2023
286. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of landowners that have been prosecuted annually over the past ten years for failing to comply with the replanting obligation on a felling licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54327/23]
View answerForestry in Ireland operates within a legal and regulatory framework – the Forest Act 2014 and the Forestry Regulations 2017 (SI No 191 of 2017). Tree felling licences carry an obligation to replant the area felled. The requirement to obtain a tree felling licence with an obligation to replant after felling has facilitated, in part, sustainable forest management, in all but the most exceptional cases. My Department has a number of approaches to the issue of non-replanting.
According to my Department's records, four prosecutions were taken against landowners for failing to carry out a replanting obligation in recent years. A conviction occurred in each of the following years, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Another case was struck out in 2021. .
Compliance with forestry licence conditions is an important element of the forestry licensing process and is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the forestry licensing system. My Department carries out monitoring of licence holders for compliance with licence conditions. Typically a Replanting Order is the primary method used, rather than prosecutions, to ensure the replanting obligation is met in full. The Forestry Act 2014, provides recourse to issue a Replanting Order.
According to my Department’s records the following number of Replanting Orders issued since 2018.
|
Year |
Total Number of Draft /Confirmed Replanting Orders Issued |
Number of the Replanting Orders Issued in relation to Alleged Illegal Felling cases |
Number of the Replanting Orders Issued in relation to Post-Licence Breaches/or request for changes to replanting conditions: |
|
2018 |
29 |
10 |
19 |
|
2019 |
29 |
9 |
20 |
|
2020 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
|
2021 |
21 |
18 |
3 |
|
2022 |
13 |
11 |
2 |
|
2023 |
35 (YTD) |
23 |
12 |
Also, breaches of conditions attached to licences and grant approval detected by the above procedures and by other means (e.g. reports by 3rd parties) may elicit sanctions from the Department, depending on their nature and extent.
This may entail one or more of the following measures:
• the withholding of grant and premiums until appropriate remedial work is carried out to the satisfaction of the Department
• application of financial penalties under DAFM’s forestry-related penalty system;
• the revoking of forestry licences issued;
• established sanctions under the DAFM’s Registered Forester system, including an increased site inspection regime applied to projects involving the Registered Forester in question, or his / her removal from the list of Registered Foresters and consequential exclusion from certain types of future work.
