Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I wish to focus on his statement that there is no crisis in the granting of licences. I have spoken to the nurseries, planting companies and a company involved in clear-felling and thinning and all have concluded there is a crisis. The planting figures for this year will undoubtedly underline that. At most, there will be 4,000 ha of new planting this year. This is only 50% of the target. All those I have spoken to are convinced this is attributable to the bureaucratic system that is in place in the Department owing to the new Act.

An environmental impact assessment on an area of 15 km to 20 km of any area of forestry in the country will undoubtedly cover designated land, special areas of conservation or environmentally protected areas. There would be an impact on wildlife. There is no way that would not occur. A common-sense approach has to be adopted to ensure licences can be granted in a timely fashion. As I said in my opening statement, the first step should be the exemption of plantations smaller than 8 ha under the new Act. For farmer forestry, that would be a great help.

On the ground, farmers have to wait too long to get an answer as to whether their land will be acceptable for planting. They are making other decisions on land use as a consequence. This seriously affects the amount of land that is being planted. This is not coming from me but from the stakeholders in the industry.

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