Forestry Sector

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 June 2021

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Ceisteanna (297)

Michael Fitzmaurice

Ceist:

297. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 536 of 25 May 2021, if his prediction for a higher output for May has materialised; if so, the reason the recent forestry dashboard has shown a week-on-week decline on the output of licences being issued; if he will intervene with the Assistant Secretary to make sure at least 100 licences are issued as declared by the Assistant Secretary with his statement to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33677/21]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

As predicted, there has been an increase in licence output from mid-May which has continued each week since. The Department has issued an average of 90-100 licences for the last five weeks and we expect this week to be similar.  This resulted in May being the second highest month in terms of licences issued this year and we expect June to be the highest month of the year so far. The vast majority of licences issued in recent weeks have been to private landowners and farmers.

We remain committed to issuing 4,500 forestry licences this year, which is an increase of 75% on 2020.  To 18 June, 1,594 licences have issued, with 99 licences issued last week.  As outlined previously, there will be weekly fluctuations within individual months.  However we believe that the second half of the year will be higher than the first half for licences issued and that the 4,500 target will be met by year-end.