John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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402. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a tree felling licence application by a person (details supplied); if the application will be expedited given the applicant has provided the NIA statement; the total number of applications that remain to be processed; the breakdown of the length of time the applications that have been in the system by month; the number of applications being approved on a weekly basis; his plans to clear the backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32661/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The application for a tree felling licence for the person named was received on 25th June 2019. A revised Natura Impact Statement (NIS) was received on 13th April, 2021 and the file has been assigned to an ecologist for assessment. This usually takes two to three months.

Once that work is complete, the application will be returned to the Forestry District Inspector, who will complete the assessment and make their recommendations. The recommendations will form part of the decision on the application, which will be issued to the person named, when available.

My Department receives applications for forestry licences and issues decisions daily. There will always be applications in the system at various stages, from the earliest steps in an application before it is fully submitted, right through to decision. The total number of applications on hand is 6,058, which includes 1,745 applications recently submitted by Coillte.

We intend to issue 4,500 licences this year which is a 75% increase on last year and we remain committed to that target. Licences issued year to date are 20% ahead of last year. Weekly updates are provided in our published forestry dashboard.

The average length of time to decision for felling licences for those decided in 2021 is 12 months. It is ten months for afforestation and nine months for roads.

The clearing of the backlog of licences is a priority for Minister of State Hackett who has responsibility for forestry and myself. Increased resources have been invested in dealing with files on hand and under Project Woodland a dedicated group, Working Group 1, is tasked with looking at the backlog.

This Group has already met nine times and has examined in detail the cases on hand and is producing specific recommendations for improving output, including a definition of the backlog, which will be brought to the Project Board for consideration.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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403. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the Backlog Working Group established as part of Project Woodland; the suggestions by the Group to solve the forestry licencing crisis; his plans for the implementation of these recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32676/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The clearing of the backlog of licences is a priority for myself and Minister of State Pippa Hackett, who is responsible for forestry. Increased resources have been invested in dealing with files on hand and, under Project Woodland, a dedicated group, Working Group 1, is tasked with looking at the backlog.

This Group has already met nine times and has examined in detail the cases on hand and is producing specific recommendations for improving output, including a definition of the backlog, which will be brought to the Project Board for consideration. Furthermore, the group on Forestry Policy is meeting next week at which a full update on progress to date will be provided to all stakeholders.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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404. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consideration is being given to the introduction of statutory timelines with respect to the issuing of forestry licences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32678/21]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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405. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is considering wholesale regulatory reform with respect to the issuing of forestry licences in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32679/21]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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406. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is reviewing the 15 km screening radius with respect to forestry projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32680/21]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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407. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will address a matter (details supplied). [32681/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 404, 405, 406 and 407 together.

Project Woodland, which was launched in February this year, is a framework which aims to review and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the forestry licensing system, as well as developing a strategy for woodland creation. The structure of the Project is that four Working Groups, each chaired by an independent person and made up of stakeholders from the Forestry Policy Group, report to a Project Board, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department.

Working Group 3 is, among other things, developing a communication strategy, including a Customer Charter. The Customer Charter will include timelines for the issuing of forestry licences and it is within this Group that all matters in relation to timelines will be considered.

Working Group 4 is concentrating on licencing process improvements. This Group has indicated that it intends to recommend to the Project Board that an independent review of the regulatory process, taking account of international practice, be commissioned. This will include an examination of the criteria used for screening for Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Directive.

As regards the increase from 3km to 15km for screening purposes the advice referred to was received from our external environmental consultants at the time. When added to NPWS guidance and decisions from the Forestry Appeals Committee, the Department moved from a screening distance of 3km to 15km to consider all European sites within that distance.

The work currently underway and due to be undertaken to examine the licensing process within Project Woodland will, I hope, lead to an improvement in output which will benefit the forestry sector as a whole.