Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My thanks to the members and the witnesses. Unfortunately, the pace of licensing and decisions from the forestry appeals committee is nowhere near where it needs to be. This is the key to addressing the short-term supply issue that continues to decimate the industry, especially sawmills such as Grainger sawmills in west Cork, which employs up to 500 people. Some 2,700 licences were issued by the Department in 2020. The figure needs to be closer to 5,000 this year to meet industry requirements. The numbers need to increase further in the long term. As noted, some 2,700 licences were issued by the Department last year but the industry requirement is for 5,000 every year as well as dealing with the backlog. Some 400 of the licences issued by the Department were appealed and there are still 400 in the forestry appeals committee.

I have several questions. We have a full-scale emergency impacting the entire forestry and timber industries. It poses an ongoing threat to the future of 12,000 jobs throughout Ireland, including 500 jobs in Grainger sawmills. This is a priority for me and my constituents as well as the many farmers who are without licences and cannot cut down trees or get the raw materials that sawmills need to operate. This is the question I need answered. As I outlined, the industry requirement is for 5,000 or more licences per year. How many licences will the Department issue in 2021? It issued 2,000 licences last year.

There is a backlog of files in the Department and it is going nowhere. There seems to be no plan for getting through it. Will the Department write to each applicant in respect of each file and give the applicant a clear statement of where the file is, what will happen with it and when? Does the Department accept that its current system is simply not able to cope with demands placed on it by the sector? Should the Department not realise that it needs to change its system and processes if it is to meet the needs of the sector and allow it to function formally? Will the Department admit that ordinary people - farmers, forest owners and wood processors - have heavily invested throughout the country and are being let down by the system? These people cannot fell their crops or plant trees. Can the Department give these people any reassurance around their needs?

There is a related issue in respect of the horticulture of peat. Can limited extraction licences for peat be granted immediately? Can Bord na Móna and others be directed to work with the forestry industry to use international experience on the preparation of bark and nursery stock production use? Can supports and education be provided to the nursery industry immediately to allow transition to alternative growing as a matter of priority? We are looking at importing peat from Scotland, Norway and further afield as well as other materials like core from south-east Asia, with terrible environmental consequences. There are several questions there but I would appreciate if we could get answers to them.