Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 October 2021
23. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will introduce a single consent system for agri-forestry to cover planting, thinning and felling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50695/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Mackinnon report commissioned by the Department to review the processes and procedures for forestry licenses in Ireland, recommended that there would be a review of the legislation on forestry and that this review would consider the introduction of a single consent covering planting, road construction, management and felling.
The Department, in response to this recommendation, have recently carried out a tender competition to procure an external review of the regulatory system. The Department has selected a preferred bidder with legal and environmental expertise to carry out an in-depth review of the forestry licensing system.
It will review the existing statutory framework for the licensing of forestry activities in relation to environmental and public participation obligations in order that practical advice can be provided to the Department on how to work more efficiently within the existing legal framework. The question of a single consent process for all forestry activities is among the areas to be examined in this work. It is expected that this work will be completed by mid-January.
In addition, a business systems analysis currently being undertaken by an independent systems analyst will interact with and run parallel with the regulatory review, so that best possible system improvements are delivered.
Alongside Project Woodland, we continue to look at our processes. Changes were made to the way in which ecological reports were prepared, freeing up ecologists to spend more time to deal with the ecological assessment of the application.
There have been recent improvements in licensing figures and we have already issued more licences year to date than in the whole of 2020. Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett who has overall responsibly for the sector I reiterate my commitment to supporting the forest sector and to building on the recent progress, so that a continual improvement in delivery is achieved.
