Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important matter. This is an issue that the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, is working on in order to respond to the issues the Deputy and other Deputies have raised in the House. Of course we are aware of the difficulties that exist with the release of licences for forestry. This year alone, 3,045 licences have been granted as opposed to 2,592 in all of 2020. We have, therefore, seen an increase in the number of licences being granted. The volume of timber that is now licensed is 87% higher than for the whole of last year. That being said, we acknowledge that we must do better on this. For this reason, there is a budget allocation for forestry of nearly €100 million. While we are doing better, we acknowledge we need to do more in the coming months.

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