Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Deputy's positive comments in respect of the Committee Stage amendments to the climate Bill in the Seanad last week. It illustrates the Minister's openness and accommodation in taking on the views and ideas of others in the legislative process. He has a high regard for agriculture and rural Ireland. He has made that clear on an ongoing and consistent basis. The amendments the Deputy referenced strengthen the Bill and provide greater clarity on the use of sinks of greenhouse gases and carbon and that removals will be used to comply with our carbon budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings.

I fully take on board the Deputy's comments on forestry in the sense that it is a key sector. The Government has nothing against forestry; it wants to encourage more afforestation. We have inherited a long backlog because of issues to do with serial objections in the courts in respect of the licensing of felling and planting. As the Deputy knows, legislation was introduced late last year. That legislation is being implemented but I acknowledge a lot more work needs to be done. There are extra staff. Twenty-one full-time ecologists are now working in the Department on forestry licensing. Ten permanent forestry inspectors have joined the Department's team in addition to those who were on it. More staff have been recruited. Fifteen more administrative staff have been recruited. A project management expert, a business analyst and so on have been recruited to try to expand the capacity of the forestry team within the Department. The last three months of 2020 were the months with the highest licence output, with almost 900 new licences issued. Licences for felling, covering a volume of some 2 million tonnes, were issued in that time, amounting to 40% of the output for the year. We have seen some improvements in licensing output during the first half of 2021. June saw the most to date. There have been 1,758 licences issued so far this year. That represents a 19% increase over the figure for the same period last year. Then again, I accept that further gains are needed. We are moving in the right direction. The average output for the past seven weeks was 95 licences per week. Farmers are the big beneficiaries, receiving 75% of these.

Licence output is only one measure of performance. The more realistic metric is the volume of material licensed. This is what really matters to the sector. In that regard, felling volumes are 77% higher than at the same point last year. The area for afforestation is 19% higher. The licensing of road lengths is 121% higher. Coillte's 2021 felling programme is fully licensed. Coillte is working with the Department to ensure the availability of supply to the market.

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