Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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262. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the timeframe for the completion of a natura impact statement in respect of a forestry application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23583/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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An application for an afforestation licence and the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme was received in October 2019 for the person named and has been referred to my Department’s Ecology Unit. The application site is near eight designated sites including the Killarney National Park SPA. Therefore, the impact of any afforestation operations on the sites and the surrounding area, must be carefully considered before deciding on the licence application.

If the applicant wishes, they may provide a Natura Impact Statement (NIS). The NIS must be prepared by a suitably qualified person. An NIS can considerably reduce the time taken to assess the application, as once received, the NIS will be examined by an ecologist within two to three months and a decision will issue once the assessment of the application is complete.

It is difficult to predict a timeframe for progessing this file in the absence of an NIS being submitted by the applicant.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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263. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures he will implement to reduce the delays in processing and approving tree felling and tree planting licences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23590/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department has deployed significant additional resources to address delays in forestry licencing.

To 30^thApril, 1,047 new forestry licences have issued this year, which is 11% up on the total number issued to end April, 2020. Across all licence types, improvements in delivery of decisions can be seen compared to the same time last year. Felling licences are up 3% in number issued and 31% for the volume of timber. To date in 2021, my Department has issued felling licences for 2 million cubic metres, which is 40% of the total volume issued last year. To date, 93km of forest roads have been licensed, which is 75% of the commitment given to license 125km of forest roads this year. Finally, the area of afforestation licensed is up by 12% to date at 1,862ha.

In addition, my colleague, Minister of State Pippa Hackett who has responsibility for forestry, has established Project Woodland, to work with stakeholders to examine all aspects of forestry, including a review of processes with a view to reducing the licencing backlog.

I remain hopeful that the framework now in place under Project Woodland will address our current difficulties and will result in a licensing system which meets the needs of forest owners and new applicants.