Seanad debates

Thursday, 11 November 2021

Forestry Licensing: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Tim LombardTim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and her speech. If possible, the Minister of State might issue that speech to Members of the Seanad at some stage as it is important we would get a copy of it. We have had serious debates this year about the forestry issue in this Chamber, in the Dáil and in the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I am not sure how many times it has happened but on multiple occasions the Department has been before the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discuss this issue and I know there will be another debate on it in the Dáil in the coming days. That shows the real interest there is at a political level in trying to find solutions to what is a significant issue and in how we will address these shortfalls in reaching our targets.

The Minister of State mentioned in the Dáil that we would not reach the targets.Is the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, confirming that we will reach the target of 4,500 licences? That clarification would be very helpful. It is something the general public needs to hear. Afforestation licensing, in particular, is something we will all be judged on, albeit not in the short term. Future generations will judge us on the afforestation licences of the last few months. In June, July and August only 34 licences were issued. We were significantly below the 30% mark that we were hoping for.

Looking at where we are going with the licensing programme, if we do not have afforestation lined up we are going nowhere in real terms. Last week I met a man in Skibbereen who had an application in for afforestation for three and a half years. He was in Skibbereen mart buying cattle, having walked away from the forestry project. Senator Paul Daly has previously mentioned the big issue of people walking away from the programme. We need to have more forestry, we need more people involved and we need to get confidence back in the sector. There have been protests outside Leinster House. Several delegations have come to meet me on a conciliatory basis about how we can reach the targets. We have effectively lost the confidence of the sector. It will take a significant body of work to build up that confidence. That is the body of work that needs to be done with regard to licensing.

There are 4,500 licences being proposed. The industry was looking for 6,500 licences so we are behind the curve on what the industry says it needs to survive. Raw timber is coming into Cork Harbour on a monthly basis to keep the mills going in that part of the country. It does not make sense, even on the carbon side of things, to have raw timber coming into Cork Harbour and out to the sawmills. It is illogical in so many ways when we have the potential to do so much here in Ireland. That is having a huge impact. I have asked questions about the biosecurity arrangements on site. Is the Minister of State confident that we will not bring in the spruce beetle? We have seen what happened before with ash dieback. We brought that in due to inadequate biosecurity. Are we running the same risk by bringing in more of this timber? The potential is there. The capability exists for the spruce beetle, which is currently in the southern part of the UK, to come here. Most of this timber is coming in from the north. Its arrival would decimate our entire industry. It would wipe it out. We need to make sure that biosecurity is appropriate at our ports. That is another major issue which the entire industry will be talking about. In fact, all of society will be affected because there will be nothing left if the spruce beetle gets in.

We need to build up the confidence of the foresters on the ground. The biggest issue we have in this context is the timelines. A person who submits an application to the Department tomorrow morning will have no indication when it will come back. It might be two months, two years or 20 years. In fairness, 20 years would be the exception. That is where we are at. If a person makes an application to Cork County Council for a housing project, he or she will get a fixed timeline all the way through. Such timelines are not available for foresters. The Minister of State successfully brought legislation before the Oireachtas this time last year which solved the actual appeal issue. I believe the time is appropriate now for her to bring forward legislation to put timelines in place in her Department, so that there is a timeline applicable to each application. People cannot wait three years for a decision, or even to know what stage it is at, in afforestation. It does not make sense. There is no logic in that. There is communication or interaction on the backlogs. As a result, they are walking away from us. We need to bring forward drastic measures. I believe the Minister of State's long-term policy is appropriate. What we are proposing in Project Woodland is the way forward, with one licence for an entire project all the way through. That is where we need to go, but we will not get there in the short term. How do we get confidence back into the sector? We will be at 30% afforestation again next year. I cannot see the sector changing. I cannot see the farming community rallying behind something if they do not get confidence. We need to have a drastic change in policy to get confidence in order to get people planting.

The Minister of State was at COP26 and saw where we are. More than any other Member of this House, she has knowledge of what is required. In light of what is at stake, it is illogical that we are achieving 30% of our target afforestation at the moment. All of this means that we must make some drastic changes to legislation. People have been attacking the Department about officials. I do not blame the officials or the staff. They are doing a good job, but the legislation is not strong enough to ensure this is delivered on time as it must be. As a result, there is going to be leakage. A personal applying for planning permission tomorrow morning will have a timeline from start to finish. He or she will have a timeline for further information all the way through. We have been through it, but when it comes to licensing we have no timeline. The time has come for emergency legislation to put a fixed timeline in place so we can get the backlog cleared. Then we can move ahead and implement Project Woodland, which is the key to solving the problems of this sector going forward. We have seen in Scotland how something like Project Woodland can happen. We have a unique problem here that needs a unique decision. It is in the hands of the Minister of State to do that.

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