Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy about its importance. There is no doubt that the licensing backlog has been a very real drag regarding progress and meeting our targets. It is something the Department has made a massive effort to address. How it evolved has been well documented and discussed in this committee? Very significant resources are in place in the Department. Over the course of this year, we have been making increasing progress regarding licensing. Around 3,500 licences have been issued this year compared with just over 2,500 for all of last year. The dial is going in the right direction over the course of this year and is continuing to progress. Over the past 11 weeks, an average of 113 new licences have been issued. Afforestation has not been keeping pace with felling. We have allocated ten ecologists specifically to afforestation.

Regarding getting things right in the long term and making them as streamlined and effective as possible, the implementation of the MacKinnon report is well under way through Project Woodland. The board recently published its second interim report. Two important recommendations from it have been approved, the first being the regulatory review of the existing statutory framework for the licensing of forest activities. Work on that has begun. The board has also agreed prioritisation and effective and inclusive consultation on a shared vision and plan for a new forestry strategy. Work on this has commenced. This will be really important in terms of driving things forward. There is significant potential for improving forestry nationally and there is a very real imperative to deliver on it as well given what it can deliver from a climate change and carbon capture and sequestration point of view and the potential to drive up farm income.