Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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388. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when his Department will provide this Deputy with a timeframe for forestry licence applications that have been in the system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17828/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the issues facing the forestry sector 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.

The introduction of Project Woodland, recently launched by Minister-of-State Pippa Hackett, with responsibility for forestry, is our strategy for resolving the licensing issues. This new structure aims to ensure that the current backlog is addressed. The Project involves a review and refresh of our processes and procedures and includes outside stakeholder participation to bring an independent perspective. It is 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. Meanwhile, Working Group 4 will address Effective Processes, which will include clearer explanations for the statutory basis for forestry regulation and the introduction of more efficient and effective processes. I expect there will be cross-cutting issues between these two groups.

A target to issue 4,500 licences in 2021 has been set which is a 75% increase on 2020.

I remain hopeful and confident that the changes presented under the Project Woodland 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.

The tables below show the average time taken to decide on an application received for each of the three categories of licence, broken down by the year received, for 2018 to 2020.

It is worth noting that there are always licences in the system at various stages of processing. These are the initial stages of an application being made, while the registered forester finalises application documents to referral to prescribed bodies, referral to the inspector and/or ecologist/archaeologist, to making final decision. Applications may also be returned to the applicant (and their registered forester, where relevant) for further information.

The average time taken for a decision to issue on a felling application, averaged over the last three years was seven months. The average time an undecided felling licence has been in the system is 13 months.

The average time taken for a decision to issue on an afforestation application, averaged over the last three years was six months. The average time an undecided afforestation licence has been in the system is 17 months.

The average time taken for a decision to issue on a Forest Road application, averaged over the last three years was six months. The average time an undecided Forest Road licence has been in the system is 15 months.

Felling

Afforestation

Roads

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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389. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of forestry licences issued by his Department for the first quarter of 2021; if the commitment to issue 4,500 licences in 2021 will be honoured; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17829/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As of Friday 26^thMarch, the Department has issued 814 forestry licences in 2021. This is 18% of the target of 4,500 that will issue this year. The number of forestry licences issued this year is almost 20% higher than the same period last year.

I remain hopeful and confident based on these figures that target of 4,500 will be met in the remainder of the year notwithstanding that it will be an enormous challenge to reach those targets. In overall terms, when compared with end-March last year, Q1 2021 has resulted in:

- Afforestation decisions are down 12% but the area approved is up 14%

- Forest Roads decisions up 81% and length up 125%

- Felling decisions are up 37%, volume is up 53%

- The full end of quarter figures will be outlined in the next Forestry Dashboard.

There is considerably more work to do and the implementation of Project Woodland in collaboration with stakeholders remains a key political priority for me. We are continuing to invest in resources and reform our processes and procedures to improve our licensing output.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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390. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the details of the decision in 2010 to impose the 20% rule on forestry and farmers, including accompanying reports and correspondence from the EU at that time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17830/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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A decision was made to restrict the planting of unenclosed land in December 2010.

Enclosed land is, in general, more fertile and less exposed than unenclosed land and trees planted on enclosed land generally perform much better than trees planted on soil types associated with unenclosed land. This position is supported by many publications including ‘Sitka spruce in Ireland, Joyce, P.M. and OCarroll, N. 2002, and by ‘The distribution and productivity of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) in Ireland in relation to site, soil and climatic factors’. Farrelly N. et al 2009. and the Code of Best Forest Practice - Ireland (2000).

Prior to the decision to restrict planting of unenclosed land, a number of well-known studies supported the position that habitat types associated with unenclosed land are more environmentally sensitive than enclosed land. For example, various studies including ‘Phosphorus release from forest harvesting on an upland blanket peat catchment by Rodgers et alin 2010 established that peat soils do not buffer phosphate in the same way mineral soils do and that there will be a release of phosphate into receiving waters post-harvesting, even with the installation of protective setbacks along watercourses.

Concerns also existed in relation to the importance of unenclosed land for forging and breeding by a wide range of protected bird species (e.g. Hen harrier). Similarly, concerns existed in relation to undesignated Annex 1 habitats such as wet and dry heath, and highly endangered protected species such as freshwater pearl mussel, whose lifecycle is dependent on natural habitats typically associated with unenclosed land. Such environmental issues were discussed at this time with the European Commission.

At the time, another consideration was the fact that many plantations on unenclosed land that received grant and premium aid failed and the Department often engaged with the applicant to recoup the monies paid.

The planting on unenclosed land will be reviewed in the context of Project Woodland.