Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 June 2022
416. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average output of files per ecologist for May 2022 for afforestation files, private sector felling licences, Coillte felling licences, private sector forest road applications, Coillte forest road applications and ash dieback RUS applications in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28778/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra417. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of ecologists who were working on Ash dieback RUS applications files for the week commencing 23 May 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28783/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 416 and 417 together.
Under the Forestry Licensing Plan 2022 we intend to issue 5,250 licences, and to increase our output across all licence categories, with the exception of Coillte felling which will remain the same as 2021. In addition we intend to deliver on approvals under the Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (RUS) -Ash Dieback.
In order to achieve these targets, we have improved our systems, and given the number of files referred to ecology, we have recruited additional ecologists. There are now 35 full-time equivalent ecologists working on forestry, with 21 very recently recruited now dealing with afforestation. These ecologists have undertaken initial training in our systems, familiarised themselves with the DAFM afforestation licensing process and the standard operating procedures.
Therefore, as they now begin to examine application files, we expect the impact of this recent recruitment to become evident at end June / beginning of July.
As regards progression towards our target, we have at 27th May, 2022 issued 2,019 files which is 95% on target at this stage of the year. The output for May across the various categories is outlined in the table below:
|
Licence /Approval Type |
Issued 3rd - 27th May 2022 |
|
Afforestation |
51 |
|
Private Roads |
46 |
|
Coillte Roads |
13 |
|
Private felling |
116 |
|
Coillte felling |
138 |
|
RUS (Ash Dieback) |
16 |
The number of RUS approvals issued in the week commencing the 23 May was 4 with a total of 50 RUS approvals issued year-to-date.
Along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who has overall responsibility for the sector, we remain committed to delivering on the ambitions outlined in the Licensing Plan 2022.
