Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 December 2021
637. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has considered a legislative and regulatory review to address the issue of serial objectors in respect of forestry and felling licensing; if fair restrictions on objections will be considered to reduce instances in which the objector has little or no ties to the area concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62883/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have already introduced legislation to make for a better and more efficient and effective forestry appeals process, namely the Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 which was enacted on 5th October last. To give effect to these, I signed the Forestry (Licence Application and Submission Fees) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 417/2020) and the Forestry Appeals Committee Regulations (S.I. No. 418/2020).
At the time of the introduction of the Act, all matters relating to the forestry appeals process were considered and an extensive public consultation exercise was conducted. The results from the public consultation exercise made clear that there were concerns with restricting the right to appeal to certain persons. In view of this, the Act allows that all those dissatisfied with a decision may bring an appeal directly to the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC).
I believe we now have in a place an open and transparent public consultation and appeals process for forestry. The FAC has been extremely efficient in how it has gone about its business and the number of decisions currently outstanding at 37, as compared to the approximately 1,000 cases on hand when the legislation was being introduced.
