Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Along with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, she should be complimented on dealing with this matter so quickly and efficiently. Before I say my few words, I appeal to everyone in this House that while we must have an open discussion and listen to everybody's point of view, we must realise why this Bill is coming through and why some people might use the phrase "fast track" to describe its passage. It is being fast-tracked because thousands of jobs in the forestry industry in this country are in jeopardy. Coming from rural Ireland, as the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, has pointed out, I can say that there will be thousands of families left without a wage packet if we do not urgently deal with this matter. That is why I am making a genuine appeal to every Member that once we have a discussion and everybody's point of view is listened to and dealt with, we would move ahead as swiftly as possible with the Bill.

Our party is supporting this Bill, which aims to make the forestry appeals system more efficient and reduce the backlog of appeals with the forestry appeals committee, FAC. It will align the forestry licensing and appeals process with similar planning processes and that is something that has been called for. This action is a commitment under the programme for Government. The Minister of State has given a good overview of the Bill, formerly known as the Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill. The main purpose of this Bill is to amend the Agriculture Appeals Act 2001 to align the forestry licences and appeals process with similar planning processes. The Bill increases the capacity of the forestry appeals committee to determine appeals by enabling it to sit in divisions of itself. It provides for the appointment of deputy chairpersons to the FAC and for the committee to sit in divisions. It also provides for the committee to have a quorum of two, for a time limit of 28 days to lodge an appeal and for the election of the provision that such a decision of the FAC may be appealed to the High Court on any question of law. The Bill allows for the recruitment of additional members to the committee in order that deputy chairpersons may be designated and that the committee may sit in division. Those appointments will be made in line with best practice in terms of remuneration and at the minimum cost to the Exchequer.

This has to be described as important legislation, which aims to get the forestry sector moving again. The sector has warned that tree planting has collapsed and 12,000 forestry related jobs are threatened by the massive backlog in the Government's licensing and appeals system.The legislation is allowing for an increase in the number of persons on the forestry appeals committee and it allows for a sub-division of this committee so that it can review many appeals at the one time. The appeals process will be more efficient and work quicker. It is important that we get the appeals system working quicker. If we did not do something about this, it would take three years to clear the backlog.

The Bill, it is important to point out, does not restrict people from making an appeal on forestry licences. I am glad the Minister kept that in there because that is important as well. However, it introduces a small fee for lodging appeals, which up to now have been free. To be honest, I welcome that. It is only right that it should be there.

The licensing backlog has slowed forestry activity, including tree planting and thinning as well as felling and timber processors. Sawmills, manufacturers of wooden pallets and the construction industry have all expressed concern over a shortage of timber. I think of Masonite near Drumsna in Carrick-on-Shannon with probably 150 workers, Murray's sawmills in Ballygar in Galway with up to 200 workers and Glennon sawmills in Longford. I think of the people who are making pallets in the small business in Ballyleague in County Roscommon and the building business which need this timber urgently. We should also remember that it is a significant export business as well.

The timber industry is at "breaking point" with thousands of jobs at "imminent risk", the boss of State-owned Coillte has warned. Shovel-ready tree felling projects have ground to a halt in the Republic as a result of delays in a Government appeal mechanism for such projects. The delay has led to a substantial timber shortage in the State, with many workers in the sector facing the prospect of reduced hours or redundancy. Specifically, the industry has complained that appeals to the granting of tree felling licences are not being dealt with quickly enough by the Department's forestry appeals committee, FAC. That is a fair comment by the industry. The issue is that under legislation introduced in 2017, appeals to licences must be heard by a committee headed by the chairman of the FAC. It has become apparent, however, that when the legislation was introduced, the volume of appeals that would follow was not anticipated. This year, as the Minister of State has pointed out, 382 appeals have been made. Only one of those has been heard so far this year. In total, there are approximately 500 appeals outstanding, with a roughly two-year backlog now created. That is not acceptable.

We have to take into account what the Coillte chief executive, Imelda Hurley, said. Ms Hurley said that the crisis was creating a massive problem for the industry and that, "there is real risk of serious long-term damage to the entire timber industry".

Before I hand over to Senator McGreehan, I want to compliment the Minister of State on one of the lines in her speech. While I compliment her on all of her speech, it is great that we can look forward to opening up our woodlands. There is one right beside me at home is Slieve Bawn in Roscommon. I have been speaking to the Minister of State about it today. I refer to a big Coillte development there. We had a windfarm developed a number of years ago there and some people were not happy about it. However, between Roscommon County Council and Coillte, we have opened up fabulous amenities for the communities, and people from Dublin, Wicklow and wherever are welcome to come there. By doing that together, moving forward we can create a huge positivity for woodlands, Coillte and people who are in the private business as well.