Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let me acknowledge there are delays in the issuing of forestry licences and there are currently real challenges and difficulties in the sector as a result. I fully recognise the impact this is having on the sector. My immediate priority is to resolve the issues which have led to this backlog and issue licences in the volume needed for this important sector to continue to contribute to our rural economy. My Department is working with a great degree of urgency to accelerate the pace at which licences are being issued, and to ensure the system in place stands the test of time and meets all the legal requirements. Together with my colleague, the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, I have met many different stakeholders on this issue and continue to engage intensively with all parties to try to resolve this.

I am more than aware of the importance of this sector. I know it has significant potential for income generation on farms, for the creation of rural jobs, and for the provision of woodlands for public enjoyment. Forestry also has a key role to play in meeting our national climate and biodiversity objectives. That is why the building of a sustainable forestry sector is a key priority in the programme for Government. This means building economic resilience in full compliance with relevant environmental legislation.

The background is that my Department is the planning and consenting authority for forestry licensing in Ireland. Licences are required for afforestation, forest road construction and tree felling. These must be issued in compliance with EU and national environmental legislation. Third parties may make submissions on licence applications and there is provision for appealing forestry approvals to the forestry appeals committee.

Recent case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union and their subsequent interpretation by the High Court, as well as decisions of the forestry appeals committee and others, have required my Department to introduce new appropriate assessment procedures for forestry licencing. These unavoidable changes in the licencing system, which take account of case law on the environment, have resulted in delays in the issue.

The most significant of these changes came in mid-2019 with a High Court ruling on appropriate assessment procedures, which had immediate implications for forestry licencing. The new procedures introduced involved major changes and have been challenging to implement. The changes involve a more detailed screening process of all European sites within 15 km of the project area and other European sites hydrologically linked.

Appropriate assessment is a site-specific analysis that is required under the EU habitats directive, which must be completed before a licence can be issued. The assessment is to judge whether the proposed forestry operations will significantly impact any nearby designated Natura site.

The changes in process introduced to meet these environmental requirements are significant. This has led to delays in the issuing of licences, as most files now require second stage appropriate assessment. There have also been a large number of appeals, which resulted in a backlog of appeals cases.

My Department receives forestry applications and issues new licences every week of the year. This means there is a constant turnover of applications and a work list which has these applications at various stages of processing. We currently have approximately 4,700 files on hand for processing. The primary backlog, however, is with the 2,000 licences requiring ecology input. Generally, the remainder of licence applications are not subject to the delays currently being experienced with licences requiring ecology input. To give some context to our output, we have issued 2,300 licences this year to date, almost 600 of which have issued in the last two months.

I will briefly update the Senator on the staffing allocation around this. We now have 16 full-time equivalent ecologists working on forestry licencing, which is up from just two this time last year. We are continuing to recruit ecologists and will be adding to this team very soon. Ten new permanent forestry inspectors are joining the Department's team, four of whom are starting this week. They have been supplemented by four temporary forestry inspectors and all are immediately allocated to working on licencing. That gives an indication of the seriousness and the resources which are being attached to this to address the backlog, in the full understanding of the pressure the industry is under at the moment, and to try to resolve that situation by bringing a volume of timber into the industry through the issuing of licences. I thank the Chair for her discretion.