Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

548. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position in relation to forestry levies in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32106/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The land identified by the Deputy is the subject of a General Felling Licence granted under the provisions of the Forestry Act, 1946. Under the Forestry Act, a General Felling Licence carries a compulsory replanting condition, which is a legal obligation to replant the felled area. Each General Felling Licence also contains a compulsory condition requiring the landowner to preserve the trees in the replanted area for period of ten years from the time of planting. There is no provision in the Act to derogate from these conditions. Therefore, my Department has no power to remove or amend the legal obligations that are on the landowner.

Under the terms of his licence, the person is legally obliged to replant the felled area with Sitka Spruce at a stocking rate of 2,500 trees per hectare and, under the law, the replanting must be completed by 7 September 2017.