Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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506. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding the backlog of forestry applications [16795/20]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The commencement of the Forestry Act, 2014 in May, 2017 brought about significant changes in the consent process for forestry operations. Felling licences are now valid for up to 10 years and may cover several felling events, such as thinning then clear felling on the same plot. Landowners considering future operations, have the opportunity of applying for a tree felling licence well in advance of any operations taking place.

I am acutely aware that delays in issuing licences has led to difficulties for some in the sector, although of course all licences are not used immediately. My Department is intensively engaging with all relevant stakeholders on these issues. The current licensing difficulties are as a result of the changes made to internal Appropriate Assessment Procedures (AAP). These were introduced in response to important Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decisions and their subsequent interpretation by the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) and others. These findings meant that in order to grant licences which fully meet environmental requirements, fundamental changes to the licensing system were unavoidable. All licence applications are subject to a statutory public notification system.

I have appointed a project management team to take a number of measures, including the deployment of additional staff and resources to address the issues.