Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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1136. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of tree felling licences awaiting assessment; the number of staff working on these applications; and the number of NIS requested. [1147/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Firstly, I fully recognise the impact the current forestry licensing delays are having on the sector at the moment. It is my immediate priority to resolve the issues which have led to this backlog and to issue licences in the volume needed for this important sector to continue to contribute to our rural economy.

My Department receives applications and issues new licences every week and currently there are 3,000 felling licences with the Department for processing. Of this total, approximately 1,000 are Coillte felling licences. Some 1,000 are private licence which require ecology input on which a backlog has developed. The remaining private licences are at various stages of processing and do not generally experience the same delays as those that require ecology input.

Our overall approach to tackling this is subject to continuous improvement and review with the aim of increasing the output of these licences on a weekly basis and there are 38 forestry inspectors, 16 ecologists and 11 administrative staff involved.

By way of context, in terms of output, the total volume of felling licences issued for 2020 was just over 5 million cubic metres, of which just under 2m cubic metres issued since the introduction of the new forestry legislation in mid-October. I am confident this positive trend will continue into 2021.

In terms of Natura Impact Statements (NIS), my Department has advised that in cases where a file requires Appropriate Assessment, if an applicant supplies an NIS, this will reduce the waiting time for a licence decision.