John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank her for her proactive engagement on this very serious matter for many in the sector and right across the country.

In preparation for today I spoke to representatives of Smartply Europe Limited at Waterford Port. The company has a positive story to paint because it no longer imports timber. It was doing so last year and into the first quarter of this year. It had to import at a high cost to get product, but it no longer imports as a result of the licences that are coming through.

As the Minister of State will know, there are simply not enough licences being issued. Many people are experiencing delays in the felling system and particularly in terms of planting licences. This will have a seriously negative impact as we attempt to meet our targets for climate action. I do not need to give her a lesson in this area but I would like to remind her that for every 1,000 ha we do not plant, some 150,000 tonnes of CO2 remains in the atmosphere. We must make significant progress this year in this space if we are to meet the Government's ambitions. We are going to plant 300 ha this year when we need to plant 15,000 ha of new forest to meet net zero by 2050.

I agree with previous speakers that the sector lacks confidence in the entire system and that this will lead to people withdrawing. When someone gets a felling licence or seeks to plant a forest, the advice given is not to go there. We must acknowledge that is the reality, but we need people to plant and we need to make progress with felling licences. I will give one example. A constituent of mine owns 21 acres. A forest was planted by Coillte with oak 18 years ago. At the time the standard procedure was to thin the oak trees by planting Scots pine but 18 years later the pine has overtaken the oak, thus having a seriously negative impact. The man does not want to fell the oak trees at all. In fact, he recognises the contribution that his oak trees make to the climate. In reality, without a felling licence to thin the pine trees, his oak trees will be lost. He is 14 months in the system. I have been told by officials in the Department that his file has been reviewed and completed. Unfortunately, his file must get an ecological assessment. It will take a number of months before the file is picked up, and then the file must go through the mandatory 30-day consultation before being returned to the ecologist and subsequently to the district inspector. This lengthy process is very frustrating. I have given just one tangible example of existing cases. I acknowledge that there is urgency in this space but the Department is simply not getting through enough cases in order to have the impact we need.

I wish the Minister of State well in her role. I know that she is committed to this issue. If we are to have a proper system, timelines must be attached, as many Senators have referenced. We discussed the replacement for the strategic housing development process in the Seanad yesterday during the debate on the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021, which puts statutory timelines in place for preconsultation, council decision-making and decision-making by An Bord Pleanála. In that case, the Government will apply a €10,000 fine if An Bord Pleanála does not meet its targets. We need to consider adopting a similar measure for the felling licence system. As other Senators have said, we must merge the licences for felling, roads and planting into one as otherwise we will not streamline the process, as needed.