Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

301. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated cost of the ecology input in approving a forestry licence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29007/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The amount of ecology input required to approve a forest licence varies from application to application. Some sites are more complex than others depending on hydrological connections that might exists or the extent of potential interactions with qualifying interests and features of interest associated with the neighbouring European sites. Some applications screened in for appropriate assessment may have multiple European sites to be assessed by the ecologist while others may only have one.

The average cost of ecology input into a single file is between €800 and €900 per appoved licence issued. This figure is based on the total cost of ecologists engaged by the Department during the period January to April 2021 combined with the total number of licences issued during that time requiring ecology input. The calculation includes the Department's own ecologists as well as contract ecologists.