Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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314. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to improve the limited criteria that pertain to planning regulations for afforestation in view of the serious concerns of many persons and communities in areas such as west County Cavan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6385/18]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The principal Planning and Development Regulations 2001 were amended in September 2011 by the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011 to provide that initial afforestation shall be exempted development.

The justification for exempting this form of activity from the requirement to obtain planning permission is because such activity was subject to a separate statutory development consent system under the European Communities (Forest Consent and Assessment) Regulations 2010, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The 2010 Regulations were subsequently revoked and have been replaced by the Forestry Regulations 2017, following the commencement of the Forestry Act 2014. Similar to the 2010 Regulations, the 2017 Regulations make specific provision for public consultation in the application and approval processes relating to afforestation developments.

I have no proposals to further amend the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 in this regard, but taking account of wider planning and development considerations, my Department will continue to monitor and keep under review general development activity, in consultation with local authorities, relevant Departments and Agencies and other stakeholders.