Written answers

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Forestry Sector

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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3408. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if legislation and regulation will be reviewed to address the issue of serial objectors in respect of forestry and felling licensing; if fair restrictions on objections will be considered to reduce instances of objections in which the object has little or no ties to the area concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40382/21]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I have already introduced legislation on this issue to better align forestry appeals with the planning process, namely the Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020 which was enacted on 5thOctober last. To give effect to these, I signed the Forestry (Licence Application and Submission Fees) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 417/2020) and the Forestry Appeals Committee Regulations (S.I. No. 418/2020).

Both sets of regulations provide for a more effective and efficient licence application submission and appeals process. 417/2020 introduces an application fee of €20 per forestry licence application. All applications are advertised and opened for public consultation. Interested persons may make a submission on any forestry licence application, which under 417/2020, must be accompanied by a fee of €20. The table below, by way of example, shows the number of submissions received on afforestation licence applications by month in 2020 and 2021. All applications are opened for a second stage, if an Appropriate Assessment Report or a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) is received.

SI 418/2020 introduced changes to provide for a more efficient forestry licensing appeals process. Among other things, a fee of €200 on all appeals to the independent Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) was introduced. Up to the introduction of the fee, the FAC had received 393 valid appeals in 2020. Following 7thOctober, when the fee was introduced, 44 further appeals were received in 2020 and to date this year, 68 appeals have been received. This means they have dropped from an average of ten per week to two now.

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