Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Senator Pippa Hackett):

I will discuss all of the amendments in one group. Some of these amendments relate to a timeframe. The need to issue decisions in a timely manner is the precise reason I am introducing these regulations. It is not appropriate to put into the Bill a time limit on the issuance of decisions. A time limit will not make the appeal disappear and it would be inappropriate to put undue pressure on the forestry appeals committee. The appeals process must proceed fairly. Dividing the forestry appeals committee into smaller units will greatly increase its capacity and will therefore speed up the whole process. That is the purpose of that part of the Bill. I will not be accepting the amendments on it.

Other amendments to section 2 concern online publication of decisions. The forestry appeals committee gives notice of its decisions as soon as is practical and publishes them on its own website in a timely fashion. These notices will contain reasons for the decisions, the conditions imposed, and any assessments and reports sourced or produced by the committee in making the decision.

The amendments to section 5 seek to amend the Forestry Act 2014 to allow for the publication on the Department's website of applications for forestry licenses and decisions on those applications. I accepted an amendment concerning timely publication on the Department's website in the Seanad last week. As I have said, the forestry appeals committee already publishes its decisions on its website.

It is entirely appropriate for the forestry appeals committee to be satisfied whether a serious or significant error or a series of errors was made in making the decision which is under appeal. There will be circumstances where the forestry appeals committee will carry out screening or conduct an appropriate assessment, such as an environmental impact assessment. However this will not be the norm. The committee can request such assessments if it deems them necessary. As the licensing authority, it is for the Department and not the forestry appeals committee to carry out such environmental screening and make determinations in the first instance. With those considerations in mind, I will not accept any of the amendments in this grouping.

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