Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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693. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of felling licences granted for timber felling in each month in the first four months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020; the volume and hectares of timber involved in each case; the reason that felling licences issued in 2021 were for less hectares and volume than in 2020; the further steps being taken to issue licences more quickly in view of the backlog of applications awaiting approval and the severe shortage of processed timber on the market at present; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25595/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Felling licence output to date this year is up on the same period last year across all metrics.

Six hundered and fifteen new felling licences issued between January and April this year compared to 595 for the same period in 2020 which is an increase of 3% on the total number issued in the same period in 2020. 

More importantly, the area covered by the licences issued in January to April 2021 totalled 6,646 hectares compared to 5,469 hectares for the same period in 2020, an increase of 22%. The volumes for licences issued in January to April 2021 totalled 1,964,689 m³compared to 1,494,126 m³for the same period in 2020, an increase of 31%.

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 developing a plan to reduce the backlog and undertaking a  end to end review of licensing processes.

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.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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694. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the area within which forestry licences must be screened for appropriate assessment has been increased to 15km from 3km; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25596/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Habitats Directive and the transposing legislation SI 477 of 2011 require, inter alia, that an appropriate assessment is undertaken where screening identifies a likelihood of the project having a significant effect on a European site(s). This is true regardless of the separation distance between the project and the European site(s).

A likely zone of impact is used in order to identify those European Sites to be specifically addressed during screening. In making a decision regarding the likelihood of a project having a significant effect on a European Site(s), all European Sites within a certain radius (or ‘likely zone of impact’) should be considered at screening stage, in addition to hydrologically-connected European Sites. For example, in relation to a Special Protection Area, it is important to consider whether the project area lies within the foraging distance of bird species for which that SPA was designated, and many of these foraging distances exceed 3km.

This was one of the reasons why 3km was not deemed appropriate. There were a number of factors influencing the Department's change to the radius of 15km, including advice from our environmental consultants, judgements form the Forestry Appeals Committee, guidance provided by the National Parks & Wildlife Service and established sector from other sectors.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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695. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to address the forestry licensing crisis given that project woodland will not have any immediate impact on the current situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25602/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am fully aware of the issues facing the forestry sector and the timber industry and no efforts have been made to address them. The Department has invested heavily in both ecologist and forestry Inspector resources to meet the needs of the licencing system and this has resulted in gains in licensing output.

To 7th May 2021 1,085 new forestry licences have issued this year, which is 11% up on the total number issued to in the same period in 2020. Across all licence types, improvements in delivery of decisions can be seen compared to the same time last year.  Felling licences are up 1% in number issued and 29% for the volume of timber.  To date in 2021, the Department has issued felling licences for 1,937,931 cubic metres, which is 40% of the total volume issued last year. To date, 100km of forest roads have been licensed, which is 80% of the commitment given to license 125km of forest roads this year.  Finally, the area of afforestation licensed is up by 16% to date at 1,937ha.

Through Project Woodland, there is now a dedicated working group around the Backlog and establishing KPIs and a separate working group  charged with examining our internal processes that includes an end-to-end review of systems to ensure that they are made more efficient and are environmentally robust. We have recruited project management expertise and are recruiting a systems analyst expertise to assist in this process.

While Project Woodland is in progress, work continues with the Department to build on recent gains. For instance,  we are implementing internal changes to improve output including training, increased assistance to ecologists in the preparation of files, improved IT resources for ecologists and other system improvements. In addition, we are engaging intensively with the sector who also have a role to play by is focusing on improvement in the quality and consistency of applications and subsequent information including NISs.

Overall, we have set ourselves a target to issue 4,500 licences in 2021 which is a 75% increase on 2020 and we fully intend to meet this target. I remain 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.