Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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635. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the felling of up to 30 mature oak trees in 2015 in a heritage woodland which had been specifically detailed for protection in a licence (details supplied) issued by the forest service. [34500/16]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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636. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the felling of a 100-year old sequoia tree this spring in a heritage woodland in County Longford when the forest service had been assured by the licensed operator (details supplied) that no sequoia trees would be felled. [34501/16]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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637. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a felling licence for an ancient broadleaf woodland was issued without the standard consultation with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (details supplied) when two other licences in this location were so referred.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34502/16]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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638. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason as a result of complaints received, felling was suspended in an ancient woodland in County Longford on 24 March 2016, permitted to continue on 12 April 2016, and then halted again on 12 May 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34503/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 635 to 638, inclusive, together.

Between 17^thApril 2014 and 23^rd September 2015, three felling licence applications were submitted to my Department and approved in respect of the lands in question. These were as follows:

The first licence was for the thinning of 27.76 hectares and clearfell of a further 7.43ha.

The second was for the thinning of 66.32 hectares.

The third licence was for the thinning of 14.34 hectares.

The applications were processed by the administrative and inspectorate staff in my Department. In relation to the first two licences, as the area proposed for felling intersected with a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA), the views of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) were sought.

The area covered by the third licence lies outside of the SAC and SPA and involved thinning. In these situations, referral to NPWS is at the discretion of the Forest Service, and it was deemed unnecessary in this case.

In March 2016, concerns about the felling were raised with the Department and at the request of the Forest Service operations ceased on site for the areas relating to the second and third licence. At that time, felling within the first licence area had been completed. Following discussions with the contractor and further site assessments by the Forest Service, NPWS and an ornithologist engaged by the operator, the Forest Service was satisfied that the operations were appropriate and that the licenses issued were in keeping with agreed procedures. The request to cease operations was lifted on 12^thApril, conditional upon stated requirements. A speedy resumption and completion of the felling work was sought in order to have the work completed before possible nesting began. On 11^thMay, work on the site ceased and was scheduled to resume at the end of the Summer.

A basis for lifting the request to cease operations on the 12^thApril was the commitment of the contractor to retain sequoia onsite within the area of the second licence (unless overriding health and safety concerns arose). There was no condition on the original general felling licence that required the retention of that specific species.

In recent days, the Department received a report that sequoia trees had been felled on site. The Forest Service inspected the site on the 9^th

November and noted that three sequoia stumps were observed in one of the two areas within which these trees are present, as previously indicated by the contractor. In the opinion of the Forest Service Inspector the three sequoia appeared to have been felled in spring or very early summer and it appeared that the felled sequoia were quite likely to have been dominated by larger sequoias, as there continues to be a closed canopy following the removal of the trees. Following this inspection, the contractor was contacted and he explained that three small sequoias were felled for the following reasons;

- They were suppressed by the dominant sequoia overhead and therefore had little or no living crown remaining;

- They were either dead or dying;

- They represented a health and safety risk.

The Forest Service has not received any complaint regarding the felling of oak on this site. Any information regarding possible illegal felling should be forwarded to the Felling Licence Section, Johnstown Castle Estate, Wexford.