Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government is rich in its support for agriculture and agroforestry. There are huge concerns among farm and forestry contractors and, indeed, many farmer-landowners, over the desperate delays in getting tree-felling licences. This is going on for too long and I believe there is a serial objector out there as well holding it all up. We need to change the legislation here.

Between 2010 and 2018, the number of felling licence applications submitted showed a sustained increase from more than 1,700 in 2010 to almost 6,000 in 2018. This year, the number is way down to 1,800 applications. These people have long-term investments. They need to get the product out. As well as that, there are skilled contractors with huge investment in machinery and they need to be able to work. They will be idle in 2020 if something is not done here. Tá an tAire Stáit anseo. This is a serious situation where we need to amend the legislation to stop serial and frivolous objectors, and allow contractors to do their work.

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