Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 27 Oct 1994

Vol. 446 No. 5

Written Answers. - Forestry Planting.

Edward Nealon

Ceist:

125 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his attention has been drawn to the fact that regulations by the forestry service which enable large forestry planting contractors to carry out their own inspections of the lands of potential clients and give the go-ahead for planting and clearance of grants give these contractors a very significant advantage over small contractors who are not given similar facilities and who must call in the forestry service to get contract work; the plans, if any, he has to change the regulations so that these smaller contractors, who provide very useful employment in rural areas, will be able to operate and tender for work on a level playing field; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2468/94]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. J. Walsh)

The target set in the Programme for Government of increasing planting to 30,000 hectares per annum, combined with the introduction earlier this year of significantly increased forestry grants and premiums, has substantially raised the level of planting throughout Ireland, particularly among private landowners. In order to accommodate the growth in the number of forestry grant applications, to keep delays in processing such applications to a minimum and to focus the expertise of my Department's forestry inspectorate on the more complex cases, a system was introduced earlier this year whereby a number of contractors carry out, on behalf of the Department, assessments of forestry projects. In order to ensure that they would have the necessary competence and resources, certain minimum criteria for participation in this scheme were drawn up and advised to all contractors known to the Department. It was open to all contractors who met these criteria to apply to participate in the new system.

Six forestry contracting companies met the necessary criteria and these now participate in the new system, in accordance with strict administrative and technical guidelines drawn up by the Department. The participating contractors report to the Department, in accordance with these guidelines following site-plantation inspections. On receipt of these reports a percentage of cases are selected by the Department's forestry inspectorate for further inspection. Cases not chosen for further inspections are approved on the basis of the contractor's report. All cases which have environmental concerns are referred to the Department and are dealt with directly by the forestry inspectorate. It is important to note that each and every site will be visited by a forestry inspector at least once, at preplanting, post-planting, or maintenance grant stage.

This new system should free up forestry inspectors around the country to deal more expeditiously with applications from other forestry contracting companies and with the more complicated cases. The objective is to provide a better service to all those seeking forestry grants, whether via contractors participating in the new system or otherwise. The new system is being monitored and its operation will be evaluated in coming months. At that stage I will consider extending the scheme to other forestry contracting companies.