I propose to take Questions Nos. 204 to 210, inclusive, together.
New interim ‘Standards for Felling and Reforestation’ were circulated in October 2019. These Standards immediately replaced measures relating to felling set out in the existing standards ‘Forest Harvesting & the Environment Guidelines (2000)’. The ‘Standards for Felling and Reforestation’ from October 2019 is still the current document today.
This new document sets out the standards that apply to all felling (thinning and clearfelling) and reforestation projects on all sites throughout Ireland, undertaken under a felling licence issued by the Department under the Forestry Regulations, 2017 (S.I. No. 191/2017).
When released in October 2019, comments on the document were sought from stakeholders and I understand 10 submissions were received. Many of the comments suggested textual changes to improve the practical implementation of various measures set out in the document.
The stated intention at the time was that the consultation submissions would be considered and a revised version of the document would be issued in December 2019. This, unfortunately, has not happened to date. The Department is committed to updating this document and under the ‘Implementation of the Mackinnon Report’, the updating of Forest Standard documents is a key deliverable. Stakeholders will be notified in advance and a new consultation process will be undertaken. This work falls to Working Group 2 of Project Woodland and the Department will assist in any way it can.
A key deliverable for this Working Group is to develop a ‘refreshed Irish Standard and associated documents’. A milestone for this group is to carry out a ‘Review of the current suite of Forest Standard documents and identification of areas for update’. The Standards for Felling and Reforestation is one such document. Regarding comments from stakeholders and whether they will be published on-line, this decision will be made at the start of the consultation process.
