Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber to discuss a query with regard to the Forestry Act 2014. Over the past number of years we have had objections and backlogs with forestry felling that have caused significant concern to the industry here. I know many improvements have been made and we are getting to a better place, which is important for the timber industry. However, there is something that I feel is an anomaly in the Forestry Act 2014. I am referring to the exemptions to the requirement for the need for a felling licence. I do not agree with this. One of the exemptions is for trees in an urban area. This is defined as the old municipal urban areas in any town. The particular case I am referring to is in an urban Athlone in the general area of Coosan. What distinguishes a tree from a forest? A forest is defined as an area of ground of 0.5 ha. or over - roughly 1.6 acres. That constitutes a forest. The exemption is for the felling of a tree. In this case, it was over 3 acres of native forestry that had been there for the past 70 or 80 years, which was mowed down by machines. I made contact with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, and the forestry service and we were told that it was completely legal. This does not make sense. We should be looking for more green areas, more forestry and more native woodlands within urban areas, instead of having the situation where there is an exemption for somebody to actually just cut it down without the need to get a licence.

In the area that has been cut down, the forest provided drainage for the entire Coosan area, which is a large urban area in Athlone where more houses are going to be built. In the weeks since this happened, various houses have been flooded because the trees are no longer there to soak up the water. I want this issue addressed. The Forestry Act 2014 states that the Minister may serve a replanting order if a felling was not done in accordance with the Act. My understanding is that the case being discussed was not done in accordance with the Act and that the Department was not notified in advance that the felling was going to happen. It was only after the fact that a lot of queries happened and the legal advice we were given was that it was actually legal and, therefore, the Act needs to be examined. We need to preserve any green and forest areas we have in our urban areas rather than having these exemptions where somebody is able to come in and cut trees down with Hymacs, not even with chainsaws. The site is destroyed and it will allow the Japanese knotweed on the site, and which was the reason that planning was not allowed, to spread all over the country. I know it is specific issue for a specific site but the issue is within the remit of the Forestry Act 2014 and it needs to be addressed to not allow this to happen in the future. If the Minister has any power in respect of a project like this, it needs to be served and we need to replant the area.