Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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2031. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the timeline for progression through the system for the 1,500 forestry licences received by his Department that do not require an environmental impact study; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15646/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will  be aware that under the Appropriate Assessment procedures in place for assessing forestry licence applications, some are 'screened in' for referral to the Ecology Unit and others are 'screened out' which means they may be decided upon by the Forestry Inspector without ecological input.

In 2020, for all afforestation applications decided in that year that were not referred to my Department’s Ecology Unit, the average time from application to decision was 4.9 months.

The timeline for progression of applications through the system are now being examined under Project Woodland, which was recently launched by my colleague, Minister of State Senator Pippa Hackett who has overall responsibility for the forestry sector. This project is tasked with the implementation of the Mackinnon report on improvements to our licensing processes and procedures. This includes the setting of targets which will now be dealt with by the Working Groups set up under the project.

The project revolves around four Working Groups, which will focus on the licence backlog, the future of forestry, devising a fit-for-purpose organisational structure and, streamlining the licensing process.  It is being overseen by a Project Board, chaired by the Secretary General of my Department, and reports to Minister of State Hackett.