Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 290: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of reported illegal tree-felling instances that have occurred in the last three years; the number of successful prosecutions that have been made from that total; the most common reasons for failure to prosecute successfully; if, in view of the forest service's stated zero tolerance against such illegal acts, she is satisfied with the number of prosecutions; excluding on-site forest rangers or inspectors, the number of administrative staff that the forest service has allocated to pursuing reported illegal tree-felling acts. [14103/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

A total of 204 alleged cases of illegal felling have been reported to the forest service in the three years 2003 to 2005 inclusive. Within the same period, a total of 14 cases were found to warrant prosecution. Of these, seven have been successfully prosecuted to date and a further six cases are awaiting hearing through the courts. Proceedings in three more cases are being considered. In only one instance in the last three years has my Department failed to secure a successful prosecution, where the District Court dismissed the case on its merits. Overall, I believe the rate of successful prosecutions achieved is satisfactory.

My Department views the illegal felling of trees with the deepest concern and investigates every case that is reported to it. Where prosecution is considered feasible, my Department actively pursues all such cases. The Deputy will appreciate, however, that the Department can pursue prosecution of offenders through the courts only where the facts of the case and legal advice support such action. In many cases the allegations are either not substantiated, following investigation by the forestry inspectors, or, there has been no breach of the provisions of the Forestry Act 1946. To illustrate the latter point, in nearly one fifth of the 204 reported cases of illegal felling, it was found that a notice to fell trees was not required because of the provisions of Article 37(4) of the Forestry Act 1946. This provision of the Act excludes specified felling events from the notification requirement.

The felling section of the forest service comprises five administrative staff, whose duties include the processing of reports of alleged illegal felling.