John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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254. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the forestry licensing backlog will be cleared with reference to a specific date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16131/21]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts he is making to increase the issuing of private licences for afforestation, felling and forest roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16133/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 254 and 256 together.

I am aware of the issues facing the forestry sector and the timber industry and considerable efforts have been made to address  them. Additional resources have been recruited and training, information and guidance has been provided to both Departmental staff and registered foresters and, as a result, we have seen gains in terms of output.

Nonetheless, we are not where we want to be, which is why the introduction of Project Woodland, recently launched by Minister of State Pippa Hackett, with responsibility for forestry, is so important. This new structure aims to ensure that the current backlog is addressed. The Project will involve a review and refresh of our processes and procedures and will include outside stakeholder participation to bring an independent perspective. It will be a task-driven process, with clear deliverable and milestones.

Working Group 1 under Project Woodland is specifically tasked with reducing the backlog and then plotting a trajectory to achieve this target. The recommendation in Ms Jo O'Hara's Implementation Report is that this Group publish a process to achieve these targets, including prioritisation and scheduling and that a monthly dashboard show the outcome of this process against the target trajectory.

I am confident that the changes presented under this structure to processes within my Department will bear fruit, particularly to give confidence to all applicants that they can receive a timely decision on their forestry licence application.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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255. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of days on which divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the forestry appeals committee are sitting weekly in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16132/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) is operationally independent of the Department.

Up to 6^thOctober 2020, the legislation governing the FAC provided for only one committee to hear appeals. The introduction of the Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 made provision for the establishment of additional sub-divisions of the FAC to deal with appeals in a more efficient manner. Three additional divisions were established after the introduction of the 2020 Act and they commenced hearing cases on 9^thNovember 2020.

All four committees are currently hearing appeals remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions. Hearings are conducted five days a week and the FAC hear both oral and non-oral hearing appeals.  As outlined in the table below, presently, one Committee sits two days per week and the remaining three Committees sit one day each per week.

To allow for multiple divisions to sit under current arrangements, some members sit on more than one Committee per week. This approach is an important part of the process as it ensures that all Committees are operating to the same high standard and will result in a more consistent outcome across the various sub-divisions of the FAC, which will benefit all parties involved.

The FAC have considered a number of ways in which the number of appeals being heard could be increased. This may include the running of two or more Committees concurrently and/or increasing the number of cases that can be heard by a Committee in a day. However, the option of running two Committees on the same day is curtailed by the fact that the parties to a significant number of the appeals being considered are the same. If the FAC scheduled oral hearing appeals to run concurrently on multiple days per week, this could negatively impact the parties involved in that they may not be able to attend all oral hearings. 

The establishment of three additional sub-divisions of the FAC has resulted in a 150% increase in appeals being heard. Given the increase in output, the FAC must be cognisant of maintaining a high standard of process and procedure. While there are no immediate plans to create further sub-divisions of the FAC, the matter is being kept under review and the FAC, in consultation with the Agriculture Appeals Office, continues to review ways in which greater efficiency can be achieved across the four divisions of the FAC, while not impacting the quality of the work.