Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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532. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of Coillte felling applications received in March 2021. [29350/21]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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533. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when Coillte's felling applications went into the Forest Service in March 2021; the number of applications that had site specific information, that is a harvesting plan and a replanting plan included relevant to those sites as of 14 May 2021; and the number of applications that had site specific information, that is a harvesting plan and a replanting plan included at this stage. [29351/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 532 and 533 together.

The Department received 1,864 tree felling licence applications from Coillte in March 2021. Each of these applications was accompanied by information on harvesting and replanting.

Coillte submit approximately 900 clearfell applications on average each year with details of the location of the site, the area, the objective of the harvesting site, the regeneration method, the species to be felled and the species to be replanted and other information about the environment. The map accompanying the application highlights the application area, the location of any nearby European sites, rivers, lakes, SACs, SPAs, NHAs, forest roads etc. In managing an operation of this size each year it is important that Coillte have environmental and operational standards that they apply and that they have a consistency across the country as to how they approach each site.

For sites that are screened in for appropriate assessment, which is the majority of sites, Coillte submitted a detailed Natura Impact Statement that provides more detail around the felling and replanting operations. The harvesting information provided, including a harvesting map, included a description of how the timber is to be removed from the forest, techniques for protecting soil while doing so, environmental setbacks and plans for reforestation. In relation to reforestation, the information provided includes species to be planted, stocking density, the reforestation objective and information on ground preparation.