Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 May 2021
197. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1995 of 24 March 2021, if he will confirm that his reply again only spoke to targets as opposed to the question asked; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27090/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra198. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1995 of 24 March 2021, the percentage of the private sector licence requirement that has been issued in view of the fact that Coillte has already received nearly 100% of its licensing requirements for 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27091/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra199. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1995 of 24 March 2021, if it is the case that his Department does not know the number of licence and scheme approvals it must issue in order to deliver on Government targets and industry requirements; his views on whether he should task his senior officials to determine these key planning metrics immediately with a short timeframe to revert with actualities rather than base assumptions and soft targets that his officials are incapable of delivering on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27092/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra203. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 1015 of 10 March 2021, the length of time it took his Department to approve the licences comprising this 4,500 hectares; the length of time from application to approval; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27098/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 197 to 199, inclusive, and 203 together.
It is important to note that all forestry licences are voluntary and that the area licensed, be it for afforestation or tree felling or for that matter any other forestry scheme, may not be fully utilised. The licensee may decide to afforest or to fell a smaller area, or indeed, not carry out the licensed operation at all. Furthermore, the area applied can vary and remains an individual choice.
In addition, afforestation licences are valid for three years and tree felling licences have a validity period of up to 10 years and may cover more than one felling operation. For instance, a licensee may hold a tree felling licence to thin forestry in one year and then to clear fell the same are a few years later.
Therefore, it is not possible to say with any certainty, the number of licences that must issue to achieve various targets. However, based on last year’s output, I expect that approx. 65% of all licence decisions to issue this year will be for tree felling, 20% for afforestation and the balance for forest roads. The Department has set a target of 4,500 forestry licences to issue this year.
Coillte chooses to submit its tree felling licence requirement in batches, perhaps once or twice each year, with the intention of utilising the licences for their harvesting programme in a particular year. Applications for private tree felling licences are received from individuals and decisions issue daily. COFORD have forecast that approximately 1.4 million cubic metres of private sector roundwood will be ready for harvesting in 2021. We have year to date licensed nearly 900,000 cubic metres of private volume.
The 4,500ha of afforestation approved and available to plant to which the Deputy refers are licences which issued in the last three years and remain unused. In terms of these licences, the average timeframe from date of advertising to date of decision was seven months.
The key focus for the Department now is to address the backlog and to bring a new impetus to woodland creation in Ireland under Project Woodland. Along with Minister of State Hackett, who has responsibility for forestry, I remain hopeful that the framework now in place will deliver on these aims and will result in a licensing system which meets the needs of forest owners and new applicants and the sector as a whole.
