Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 May 2021
299. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the weekly number of forestry licences issued by his Department is in decline considering the investment in additional ecologists and forest service inspectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28997/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department receives new licence applications and issues decisions daily. Our target remains the issuing of 4,500 new licences this year. Within that, there will be fluctuations within individual weeks and months.
April was lower than other months for a variety of reasons but I expect May to show an increase and June to be higher again. Last week, the Department issued 101 new licences which was the highest week so far this year. This week's figures will also be above the weekly average for the year.
During this period, the Department also used the opportunity to issue new licences that were remitted to the Department by FAC for a new decision. We do not count these as new licences in our weekly output to avoid double-counting but I expect some 20 of these to issue this month.
