This government has committed €1.3 billion of funding to the new Forestry Programme 2023-2027 in order to support our national ambition of 8,000 hectares of afforestation per year. This funding provides unprecedented incentives to encourage the planting of trees that can provide a valuable addition to farm income and support the forest industry. My Department has published a Forestry Licencing Plan which outlines our strong commitment to issuing licences in 2024.
A legal and regulatory review of forestry licensing was carried out in 2022 by Philip Lee LLP and following extensive stakeholder engagement, their Report, together with the supporting documentation was published on my Department's website. Philip Lee reviewed and critically analysed the existing EU and domestic legal framework for the licensing of forestry activities, including relevant case law.
Following the completion of this review the Department published an implementation plan and is carrying out the actions from this plan.
My Department will be committing to timelines for all forestry licences under my Departments' Farmers' Charter of Rights, which is approaching finalisation. It is proposed that this will include a 6 month timeline for straight forward cases and a 9 month timeline for cases that require ecology input.
A complete end-to-end Systems and Processes Analysis was also completed, resulting in a number of recommendations in relation to changes in systems and processes. A number of these system changes have been implemented.
Regarding the overall balance of broadleaves to conifers under the new Forestry Programme’s Afforestation Scheme, a 50% broadleaf target has been adopted at a national level and is a condition of the State Aid approval from the European Commission. This reflects a shared ambition within the Department and amongst many stakeholders for greater species diversification.
The Department has committed to undertake a full mid-term review of the Programme in 2025, in consultation with all stakeholders. The percentage of broadleaves planted will of course be reviewed at this time, but it should be noted that any changes to this target would require prior approval from the European Commission.
