Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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294. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos, 359 and 358, of 20 May 2021, if any proposed planting of trees less than 0.1 hectares is considered a plan or a project and is subject to screening and appropriate assessment in the same manner as forestry currently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28990/21]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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295. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos, 359 and 358, of 20 May 2021, if the private forestry sector and specifically the foresters registered with his Department and registered ecologists and an organisation (details supplied) will be involved in developing the scheme terms and conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28991/21]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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296. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Nos, 359 and 358 of 20 May 2021, if he plans to exclude mandatory Department registered professional forester and ecologist involvement from the scheme to plant trees along rivers and watercourses to act as carbon sinks and interceptors of nutrients currently being prepared by the Minister of State in cases in which any proposed planting of trees is less than 0.1 hectares; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28992/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 294, 295 and 296 together.

Any proposed planting of trees that is 0.1 ha or over in area is currently considered afforestation and must have an afforestation licence which must be applied for by a registered forester. The planting of small numbers of trees in an area less than 0.1 hectare is however is not a consented development and does not require to be treated as a plan or project under the Habitats Directive.

This means that tree planting in agri-environment schemes, such as REAP, are below this threshold and do not require a forestry licence. REAP participants and REAP Advisors who have submitted applications on behalf of their clients will receive sufficient training and support to allow them to carry out all works involved in the scheme including tree planting where it is identified as a beneficial complementary action.

Plans by my colleague Minister of State Hackett to explore the introduction of a scheme to promote, at scale, the planting of trees along riparian margins are at an early stage. Any scheme development will involve the normal consultation process with relevant stakeholders.

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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297. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question number 193 of 19 May 2021, the person or body that will provide the sufficient training and support to the REAP participants and agents to carry out all works involved in the project specifically in relation to tree planting; if plans to exclude mandatory professional foresters many of whom are represented in their profession by an organisation (details supplied) from the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28994/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Results-based Environmental-Agri Pilot (REAP) is an innovative, ambitious and farmer-friendly pilot that will deliver an important income boost to participating farmers. While the project will support our environmental objectives, it will also support farm incomes by providing a maximum payment of €12,600 to participating farms over the term of their REAP contract. It is a targeted measure for farmers not currently participating in other agri-environment schemes.

REAP is primarily about testing a results-based payment approach for grasslands with complementary actions available to include tree-planting, new hedgerow planting and hedgerow gapping up measures. REAP participants and advisors who submitted applications on behalf of their clients will receive sufficient training and support from the Department and other relevant experts to allow them to carry out all works involved in the project including results-based scoring and tree planting where it is identified as a beneficial complementary action.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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298. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average timeframe from date of advertising to date of decision for the 76 afforestation licenses issued in April 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28995/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The average timeframe from date of advertising to date of decision for the 76 afforestation licences which issued in April 2021 was 11.5 months.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department receives new licence applications and issues decisions daily. Our target remains the issuing of 4,500 new licences this year. Within that, there will be fluctuations within individual weeks and months.

April was lower than other months for a variety of reasons but I expect May to show an increase and June to be higher again. Last week, the Department issued 101 new licences which was the highest week so far this year. This week's figures will also be above the weekly average for the year.

During this period, the Department also used the opportunity to issue new licences that were remitted to the Department by FAC for a new decision. We do not count these as new licences in our weekly output to avoid double-counting but I expect some 20 of these to issue this month.